The Master Corps: Supplementary Chapters
by Thomas A. Hawk
Summary: A collection of short stories detailing what goes on with Wes and the other members of the TMC cast whenever they're off the job. Look here to get a better look into the relationships between the characters, and experience the wacky hijinks they get up to between chapters!
1. Advice

The Master Corps: Supplementary Chapters

**_Disclaimer: I do not own Monster Hunter. The game belongs entirely to Capcom. All characters that appear in this story belong to me, unless otherwise stated._**

**Edited by: dashboardgecko**

**This chapter is Canonical with TMC**

* * *

SC1: Advice

"Hey, Viper, can I ask you a favor?" Wes asked, taking a seat beside the archer.

"Depends on the favor," the golden-eyed man responded, wiping a few crumbs from his mouth and setting his cutlery down. "Whaddya need, bud?"

"Well… How do I put this… I was wondering if you might be willing to share a few tips with me on how to talk with girls."

"You want flirting advice? From me?"

"That's not how I'd put it, but... yeah, basically. Is that surprising?"

"To be honest, it kinda is," Viper said, taking a drink from his tankard. "I figured you were the type of guy who'd find his way into a different girl's bed every night when I first met you."

"…What?"

"Well, when you think about it, you've got a huge fanclub of women in the Master Corps who'd kill for a date with you. Haven't you already gone out with, like, six or seven different girls already?"

"Only because I kept getting tricked into them!" Wes said. "First time was with Snow after she screwed up your shoot off with Emerald, then Sapphire after the Gear Rex fight, and Kat two days after that, then… I don't even know what happened with the other ones."

"Sounds like you had a few rough nights, eh?" Viper laughed, drawing an exasperated sigh from the dual blade wielder.

"Not like that, jackass… I mean I agree to it before realizing they want to have a date, and by that point I'm not able to get out of it. It's always the second I let my guard down too. And, when we finally do go out, I have no idea what to say or do, and I come off as a complete moron. Somehow I've managed to not embarrass myself too horribly, but I came pretty damn close last week. I've been getting some tips from Snow, but I still think I need help with this. That's why I came to you. You're pretty smooth with the ladies, right?"

"I'd like to think so, yeah. Might I point out that most guys would kill to be in your shoes for a day though? Seriously, that kind of stuff only happens in those weird stories."

"Viper, focus. Can you help me, or not?"

"I guess I can… If you sweeten the deal a bit."

"I'll buy you a bag of Gummy Beasts. The ones with the nulberry-flavored Arzuros'."

"Alright, it's a deal! So, I think we should start with your approach. First of all, most ordinary guys have to kniow how to approach the girl he is interested in if he wants to have a chance at wooing her. You're lucky enough that girls seem to flock to your arms, but nonetheless, you need the basics. So, say there's a pretty girl about… four tables over from us. You find her hair absolutely stunning among other things, so you feel you should start off with a compliment. What would you say to her?"

"Wait, we're getting right into it? …Here?"

"Where else?"

"I dunno, back in our rooms or something? Where I'm less likely to be seen acting like a complete dunce?"

"I still have two more orders on the way that I already paid for, bud. You either get help now, or wait an hour and run the risk of getting tricked into another one of those dates you're so afraid of."

Wes sighed in defeat before thinking up a response to the scenario the archer had presented.

"Alright, here goes nothing… Er… Hello there…? Your hair looks… absolutely radiant today…?"

"What the hell was _that?"_ Viper laughed after a moment of silence, drawing a confused look from the hunter.

"…A compliment…?"

"Gods above, you are going to need a lot of work… Okay, first off, never, _ever _start off a sentence with 'er'. You sounded like someone was holding a bowgun to the back of your head the entire time. Don't pause every other word either; you gotta have some confidence in your voice if you expect to actually hold a conversation with a girl. Just like fishing; you need convincing, intriguing bait to attract your catch. And, lastly, do _not _say 'today' at the end of that sentence."

"Why not? I mean, I get the other issues, but I thought the wording was fine there-"

"And that is _precisely _where most men fall flat on their asses," Viper interjected, waving his hand in front of Wes' face to cut him off. "They _think _they said it right, but in reality, many women would take offense to that! Why does their hair only matter today? Shouldn't it be radiant enough to garner attention every day?"

"I… hadn't thought about that…" Wes muttered. "But why does that matter? Couldn't they just take the compliment for what it is? If it's genuine, there shouldn't be an issue, right?"

"See, here's the thing: if you want to really gain their attention, you need to be more than genuine. Girls want compliments to be the best of the best, not just a run-of-the-mill attempt. What you should say is 'Hey, I've seen you around a few times, but I never got the chance to say how radiant your hair looks before now'."

"But… I never saw this person before. Why would I say that if I'm seeing someone for the first time?"

"That, my friend, is called buttering up the bread. You need to be subtle with your remarks, but make them count whenever you say something. Don't lay it on too thick, else you'll look like you're trying too hard. And if you have to tell a small white lie to make things a little easier for yourself? No harm done if they don't find out."

"So… Women like compliments, but they don't like too many?"

"There, see? You're already learning! We'll make a grade A flirt out of you yet, Wes!"

"I don't want to be a flirt, I just want to know how to tal-"

"Moving right along, you should also have a few phrases at the ready to respond to a potential advance from a girl. Like, say Ruby came up to you and said that you had stunning good looks. What would you say?"

"…Ask who the hell she is and what she did with the real Ruby, because Ruby would never do that in a million years."

"Wes, we're talking hypothetically here. Stop making this difficult."

"Alright, alright… I'd probably just respond with a 'thank you'."

"And…?"

"And what?"

"You don't just leave it at that!" Viper sighed, resting his head in his hand for a moment. "Look, let's put this in terms you can relate better too, because you are utterly _atrocious _in this field. Say you're hunting whatever monster, and it attacks you. What do you normally do?"

"Dodge and counterattack."

"Right! So, if a girl came up to you and complimented you, what would you do?"

"…Cover my ears and punch them in the face?"

"…Yes, Wes. That'll get you a ton of dates. I think you've just unlocked all the secrets of how to successfully court any girl in existence. Gods, I can practically taste the sarcasm dripping off my tongue right now…"

"Alright, I'll admit that was a dumb answer," Wes chuckled. "Can you blame me for trying to have a little fun though?"

"Your sense of humor disturbs me sometimes, bud. I don't think I've ever heard someone slip a joke like that into a conversation without changing their tone whatsoever before."

"I guess it's a talent of mine. Anyways, what should I do in that situation?"

"Well, it's simple, really. You react and reply. You'd probably want to say 'thanks', but follow up with a line like 'but you're even better looking than me'. So, no face-punching, got it?"

"I guess that is simple enough… And what comes next?"

"From there, it's easier to just go with the flow. Each talk should be unique, yeah? Be yourself, just less dumb."

"Gee, thanks for the advice, Teach," Wes said dryly. "How is that in any way helpful? That isn't something that comes naturally, y'know."

"No, I'll admit you need personal experience for that sort of thing. If I got a gold piece for every time I got slapped across the face by a woman for messing up my pick-up lines, I'd have enough to bribe you into trying to go out with Snow. And we both know how difficult that would be, considering Frost."

"That… would be quite a lot of gold. Exactly how many girls have you tried to do all this with?"

"Hmm… Hard to say. Today's the third Wednesday of the month, right?"

"Yeah, I think so. Why?"

"Trying to count the number of attempts I've made this month… I think I've tried about twenty different women, and I successfully managed to secure a date with sixteen of them."

"Damn, you're a regular lady-killer, aren't you?"

"Not to brag, but I _am _pretty awesome, bud."

"Yeah, you keep telling yourself that, bow boy," Wes chuckled, shaking his hide as the archer downed the rest of his drink. He heard the tavern doors swing open a moment after, and the two glanced over towards the door. A huntress wearing a suit of Bnahabra armor had just stepped in, and was making her way towards a table not far from theirs. "Hmm…"

"Tell ya what, let's make a bet: if you manage to get a date with her, I'll make today's lesson free of charge. She slaps you or turns you down, you need to add a box of Frosted Rathal-O's to the deal."

"…Meh, not like it's that expensive anyways… I'll be right back."

Viper watched as the dual blade user pushed himself up and approached the table the huntress was seated at, smirking to himself as he watched.

"Let's see… He's got her attention, delivering the opening line… Oncoming slap in three, two, one-"

_SMACK!_

"OW!"

"Booyah. Oh hey, my Kelbi steaks! Alright, time for thirds!"

* * *

Master Corps Dossier #1

Wesley "Wes" Adler

Hair: Medium-long, blonde

Eyes: Right eye blue, left eye green

Height: 6 ft

Weight: 165 lbs

Age: 18

Favorite Color: Blue/ Navy Blue

Weapon of Choice: Dual Blades

Most Notable Trait: Dexterity

A promising young hunter who recently joined the newly founded Master Corps. Uses unique gear created especially for him by his father, Wes has made it his goal to become a better hunter than his father, York Adler, ever was. To this extent, he studied monster ecology extensively and practiced multiple different weapon types, to the point where he has at least some proficiency with each. However, he tends to prefer the use of dual swords exclusively. Is known to be very headstrong and sure of his abilities, which he regularly makes a habit of showing off, much to the irritation of others. Ironically, despite being well known for his comeliness, he has few skills regarding conversational exchanges with women beyond the professional level, and is often tricked into dates as a result of this. Enjoys taking particularly long showers.

The most likely to get punched in the face.

* * *

Master Corps Dossier #2

Viper Dente

Hair: Long, black; covers right side of his face

Eyes: Golden-yellow

Height: 5 ft 10 in

Weight: 172 lbs

Age: 19-20

Favorite Color: Green (except the shade of Emerald's hair)

Weapon of Choice: Bow

Most Notable Trait: Accuracy

An archer hailing from the village of Overgrow, not far from the Flooded Forest hunting grounds. Left to become a hunter after the murder of his father, which he partially blamed on himself after missing a shot that could've saved his life. Has a very strong sense of justice and a firm belief in what he interprets as right and wrong, though he will make certain exceptions given the right criteria. While confident in his skills, Viper has a good idea of his own strengths and weaknesses, and adapts quickly to scenarios to turn a disadvantage into an advantage. Is known for being a relatively shameless flirt. Supposedly has an irrational fear of Polka dots.

The most likely to order three helpings at mealtime.

* * *

**Author Notes: Well, not exactly what my faithful readers were anticipating, huh? I decided to follow through with the idea of my supplementary chapters after quite a bit of consideration (about 5 minutes). These aren't going to be full length chapters like in the main story, but instead detail the going-ons of the characters in between chapters. Not all of them will be canonical, since some of the situations I have envisioned are literally unable to happen and are meant solely for fun, but for the most part these will focus on the relationships of the cast of TMC. So, expect a lot of wacky and humorous adventures here!**

**As I'm sure you noticed after the chapter proper, there are two character "dossiers" that detail a few facts about the main characters. I partially based the style off of the Fire Emblem: Awakening roster, notably the "most likely to X" bits, but I made sure to make them as unique as possible. I plan to release two every chapter which feature the characters who appear within the scene: I initially intended to release the Dossier collection as a few chapters itself, but dashboardgecko brought up that it might go against the terms and service agreements on the site, so I'm making do with what I can. Hopefully they're well received!**

**One thing to make note of is that these chapter take place at different times in the story, as Wes goes through a relatively large personality shift after a certain point in TMC (which followers of the story will understand; no spoilers!). As such, I'll point out whether or not these chapters take place early or later on; this one takes place in the early arcs. **

**Now for a bit of info that'll be sure to get you all excited; one of these chapters will feature a huge number of OC's! However, there's a catch; I only have a few right now, so I need submissions! The role admittedly won't be large at all, so a name is all I actually require, but I'll be sure to reference the owner of each, and maybe those characters will get a part later on too! You never know unless you try, so send away, my friends! **

**And, for the final bit of exciting news, TMC 20 is nearing completion! I should have it up by next week, so be sure to watch for that as well! It'll definitely be worth it, I can promise you that.**

**And, with that, I wish you an excellent day/night, faithful reader!**

**P.S. Personally, I cracked myself up with the "Frosted Rathal-O's" comment. Does that not sound like the greatest Monster Hunter cereal ever?**


	2. The Female Perspective

The Master Corps: Supplementary Chapters

**_Disclaimer: I do not own Monster Hunter. The game belongs entirely to Capcom. All characters that appear in this story belong to me, unless otherwise stated._**

**Edited by: dashboardgecko**

**This chapter is Canonical with TMC**

* * *

SC2: The Female Perspective

"So, Wes! Ready for your weekly practice session?" Snow asked, greeting the blonde-haired hunter as he opened his door.

"As ready as I'll ever be, Snow," he replied, moving to the side and letting her into the room. "Sorry about the mess, I just got back from a pretty nasty Qurupeco hunt. Didn't expect a Savage Deviljho to pop in for a visit…"

"Yeah, I heard about it from Amethyst. At least none of you got hurt, right?"

"Aside from her accidentally clocking me when I pushed her out of the way of a falling boulder? I'm lucky I don't have a black eye already."

"It's better than being eaten!"

"Can't argue with that," the dual blade wielder sighed, taking a seat on the edge of his bed. Snow seated herself in his desk chair, setting down a rather large bag on the table as well. "What's in there?"

"A few things to help with today's lesson, of course!" Snow replied, patting the side of the bag. "Something occurred to me last week when we were talking about your experience with women: you don't really have an idea what a girl's perspective is, do you?"

"Eh… I suppose not. But can you blame me? I've been a guy all my life, and any contact I've had with a woman has been almost exclusively professional. Best I got was those cheesy fairy tales about knights and princesses."

"Exactly, which is why I got these for you to read!" the blue-eyed huntress said, opening the bag and pulling out a large stack of books, each one a different size. Some were thin and looked like graphic novels, while others were almost as thick as most novels he had read.

"Geez, how much did all of that cost you, Snow? That's almost as much as my library back home, for crying out loud!"

"Just a few hundred gold, nothing too bad. You can pay me back later."

"Alright, thanks, I guess. What are they though?"

"A bunch of books about girls and how they act, how they want to be treated, stuff like that. Basically, you can read these and try to use what you learn for our other talks! Eventually, you'll be good enough to get out there and show the ladies of the world what you're made of!"

"Hopefully. I really don't want to repeat that disaster from two weeks ago, though; never expected a Guild liaison to be able to pack a punch that hard."

"Yeah, I remember that," Snow said with a sympathetic tone. "I still find it hard to believe that other girls approach you so easily, yet you can't approach them without getting clobbered. It's almost comedic, when you think about it."

"I don't really like to think about it because it's actually really depressing," Wes sighed dejectedly. "Anyways, how about we take a look at one of those books? Might as well dive right in."

"Alright, let's see here… how about 'The Tumultuous Adventures of a Rookie Huntress'? Sounds pretty promising to me!"

"I guess. I just hope it isn't one of those cheesy romance novels that've been getting popular all of a sudden. I don't think I can stomach one of those…"

"Don't worry, it's illustrated. I figure it'd be best to start with something small and work our way up from there."

"In that case, bring it here and we'll have a look! I never really got into comics, but I guess now's as good a time as any…"

The huntress grabbed the magazine off the pile and sat beside Wes, who glanced over at the book as she flipped it open to the first page.

"Wow, the art in there is really good," he remarked, noting the detail on the central character's armor and weapon. "Not sure why the eyes are so big though…"

"Must be an artistic choice," she replied, flipping to the next page. "Aww, look at her little Felyne comrade! He's got a little sword and everything!"

"Never was a big fan of Felynes myself. Doesn't help that I'm allergic to their fur."

"Really? Is it bad?"

"Not really, just extremely annoying. I start sneezing like crazy, and my eyes get all watery. My pa has the same issue, but he's lucky enough to only have one eye that gets irritated. Maybe I should start wearing an eyepatch, see if that doesn't fix the problem…"

"…Nah, I don't think one would suit you very well," Snow remarked after glancing at the hunter's face for a few moments. "But let's not get too far off topic. Back to the story!"

"Sounds good... Alright, I guess the guy in the Zinogre armor is the male protagonist then? Seems like they know each other. He's offering to help her out on a hunt so she can get better gear… Okay, I don't think I like this guy."

"Why not? Everyone's gotta learn the ropes sometime, after all."

"I don't disagree with that, but look at his gear compared to hers! He's a good three or four ranks above her. All she has to do is sit back and let him go to town on whatever they're after, and she reaps the benefits. I don't think that's very fair to the hardworking hunters out there who go through the learning process."

"I think you're reading a little too far into this. See, here you go, both of them are fighting the Rathian! She even cut its tail off."

"Yeah, but he already damaged its head and wings by that point. Clearly he did most of the work."

"There's a whole three panels dedicated to the fight, Wes. I don't think it's the important part of the story. Besides, you should be focusing on how they're talking to each other, not the details behind a short hunt!"

"Er… right. Sorry, I just get into it when I see fight scenes, I guess. Let's see… Why does she keep calling him Sempai?"

"Huh, now that you mention it, that is a little weird. Doesn't sound like a name I've ever heard before. Maybe it's a nickname?"

"Seems more like a title if you ask me. Maybe this is a translated version of a foreign publication? That'd explain why he says 'Let us make with base camp haste'."

"That did look a bit strange. You're probably right. Alright, next page then…"

"…What is he doing with that mushroom?"

"He's saying it'll help 'down cool the sandy warmth of heat'. Geez, did the translator not know any Venatorian when he worked on this?"

"No, I mean why is he rubbing it on her stomach? Why is she not wearing her armor now either? They should be ready for the airship to pick them up, not make extra baggage to carry later on. And why a mushroom? Shouldn't they just be having cool drinks?"

"Maybe they do things differently wherever this was written," Snow shrugged, turning the page once again. "I mean, there are plenty of different cultures out there, so it shouldn't be hard to-"

"_GODS ABOVE, WHY IS HE TAKING HIS PANTS OFF?!" _Wes shouted, eyes widening in shock at what he saw on the page.

"Huh? What do you… mean… Oh my."

"Snow, what the hell?! Why are they… _doing stuff _to each other?! I thought you said this was a book about getting to know women better!"

"I thought it was!" Snow explained, raising a hand defensively. "The weird guy in the market said they were an excellent way to learn and experience the way women want to be treated, secretly or otherwise. And then he started cackling and knocking his head against the table while chanting 'secretly'. What an odd fellow..."

"And you bought this entire stack from him?!"

"Well, not exactly, no. Frost was the one who made the purchase, I just talked with the guy."

"_FROST BOUGHT THEM?!"_

"Yeah, we have a shared pool of gold that we use, but we keep some on the side for ourselves to make odd purchases. He wanted to help you out too, so he offered to pay."

"_That's not the issue!" _the hunter shouted, covering his eyes as the huntress flipped through the book quickly. "Why are you still reading it?!"

"I'm not, I'm seeing if there's anything they actually say that's important! All I see is a bunch of weird letters, 'ah' and 'yes'. Oh wait, here we go! On the last page, she says 'I love you'. Isn't that romantic?"

"Why are you not bothered by any of this?! You and your brother bought me a pile of adult novels from a cackling madman so I could use them to talk with girls easier! _How does that make any sense?!"_

"I guess when you put it like that, it doesn't really… But maybe they aren't all like this? Let's see…" The huntress pushed herself up and tossed the magazine face down on his bed, walking over to the stack on his desk. She read through several of the cover pages, tossing the ones that had questionable titles to the floor. "Hmm… 'Messy Night', 'Hidden Desires', 'Slave of Love'… 'Hunters in Heat'?"

"_Stop reading the titles!_ I mean… Look, Snow, I appreciate the effort, but this… kinda failed miserably. Can we maybe try again on a different day? …Preferably _after _I burn all of these to a crisp?_"_

"Oh, alright… Sorry I messed all this up, Wes. Maybe next time, you can come with us and we can find something better!"

"Er… yeah, sure thing."

"Great! We'll find success yet, Wes! On that note, I think I'll be off," Snow said, walking over to his door and opening it. "Again, sorry about all that. See you tomorrow!"

"Yeah, see you then… Wait, Snow you forgot all the-! Aaaaaaand she's gone. Great." Wes sighed as he looked at the mess around his desk. "This is going to take forever to clean up… Maybe I can ask Arroyo if he'll torch these sometime with that sword of his… Pretty sure he'd at least have fun doing that."

The hunter heard a few quick knocks on his door as he began to pick up the books that Snow had dropped to the floor, but before he could respond, the door flung open, and Sapphire poked her head in.

"Hey, Wes, is everything alright? I heard a bunch of screaming coming from here, so I thought- _oh gods, what are you doing with those books?! _Why is one _on your bed?!"_

"Huh?! I-! These aren't-! Saph, you've got this all wrong!"

Wes cringed as the blue-haired huntress disappeared from sight, and a second later he heard her door slam shut.

"…Wonderful. How the hell do I explain _that _to her?"

* * *

Master Corps Dossier #3

Frost Veritas*

Hair: Most likely white, speculated to be longer

Eyes: Most likely ice blue

Height: 6 ft 6 in

Weight: 266 lbs

Age: 22-23

Favorite Color: Red

Weapon of Choice: Modded Long Sword

Most Notable Trait: Durability

A tall, quiet man hailing from a village in the Tundra. Very little is known about him appearance-wise due to him preferring to wear his helmet all the time, so the closest information available in that regards comes from his twin sister, Snow. Despite having a rather cryptic background, Frost displays incredible combat prowess in the field, and is potentially one of the most lethal candidates for the Master Corps. Uses an uncommonly-seen long sword with a quick draw function to strengthen the force of his draw attacks, which has been shown to possess devastating effects when attacks land, despite injuring him as well. Very protective of Snow, to the point of risking severe injury to prevent her from taking a large hit. Is rumored to be able to eat and drink with his helmet on. Supposedly harbors a strong dislike of campfires and BBQ spits.

The least likely to tell a lie.

* * *

Master Corps Dossier #4

Snow Veritas*

Hair: white, back-length

Eyes: Ice blue

Height: 5 ft 11 in

Weight: 133 lbs

Age: 22-23

Favorite Color: Light Blue

Weapon of Choice: Sword and Shield

Most Notable Trait: Grace

Twin sister of Frost, Snow is a huntress hailing from the village of Kalvata. After the death of her and Frost's father, the pair became hunters together, making a name for themselves as one of the deadliest teams in the country. Seemingly the polar opposite (pun intended) of Frost, Snow is extremely outgoing and willing to make friends with others. Her fighting style revolves around quick and tactical strikes with her sword, mostly to find an opening for Frost to deliver a big hit with. Commonly viewed as being weaker than Frost, but is actually fairly close to his level of strength and durability. Widely considered to be one of the most attractive members of the Corps, but also the least likely to be successfully courted due to fear of her brother. As such, she makes it a habit of teasing men when the opportunity presents itself, despite sometimes displaying an ignorance of the more peculiar subjects related to that field. Can apparently build an igloo big enough for a small group of people in under ten minutes.

The most well-endowed female.

*No official documentation of Frost and Snow's last name was provided, though this is what Snow claimed their surnames were.

* * *

**Author Notes: Well, this one was certainly more risqué than average! Believe it or not, but this chapter has some real life inspiration behind it, though I'll refrain from going too far into it (need to maintain some professionalism here, after all). The concept was really a no-brainer for me to devise though, which made things pretty entertaining on my end as well. Since this chapter is being released alongside TMC chapter 20, though, my author notes won't go far beyond this. Let me know what you thought, and if you have any suggestions for more scenarios for my characters to get caught up in!**


	3. Competition

The Master Corps: Supplementary Chapters

**_Disclaimer: I do not own Monster Hunter. The game belongs entirely to Capcom. All characters that appear in this story belong to me, unless otherwise stated._**

**Edited by: dashboardgecko**

**This chapter is Canonical with TMC**

* * *

SC3: Competition

Viper let out a low breath and narrowed his eyes, focusing on the center of the target across the field, already riddled with numerous arrows from his previous shots. The archer reached back and pulled another shaft from his quiver, nocking it and drawing the string of his Green Nargacuga bow as far back as it would go. This would be his last shot of the day, and he'd make sure it was a damned good one. The golden-eyed man smirked at the thought and began to release the bowstring, certain that the projectile would hit dead center on the target.

"_**HEY!**_"

"Gods above!"

The archer flinched in surprise at the shout, completely shattering his concentration and throwing his aim off wildly, causing the arrow to fling off much higher than he had intended. The projectile sailed more than half a dozen yards over the target and embedded itself in the city wall, almost a full thirty feet above the ground. With an exasperated sigh, Viper turned to the source of the interruption, not showing any surprise at who it was.

"Was that shot meant for them or something?" Emerald sneered. She didn't seem at all sorry for messing up his shot, but that was to be expected. Viper knew how much she enjoyed screwing with him, and he derived no small amount of pleasure from doing the same. The one thing she could do that was always guaranteed to put him in a sour mood, though, was throwing off a perfectly placed shot.

"No, but I wish my bow had snapped back and knocked you out instead, Greenie. What do you want?"

"You know why I'm here! You think I'm letting last week's score stand?!"

"For the love of… Don't you ever get tired of this, woman?!"

"And don't you ever get tired of cheating at every competition we have?!"

"I don't cheat, I'm just better than you are! Why can't you wrap that green-haired head of yours around that?!"

"Because I know for a fact that you _aren't _better! I've hit more bulls-eyes than you have!"

"Sure, but I've also hit the target more than you have. You can't go a single round without at least one of your arrows missing that thing by a solid foot or so."

"Tch… Fine, I can tell you just don't want an archery competition this time then!" Emerald huffed, crossing her arms and sneering at him. "Alright, name your game then."

"…What're you talkin' about?"

"Are you really that dumb?! If it isn't archery, it has to be something else! Name anything you want, and I'll beat you at it!"

"…Gods, you are completely insufferable… Fine, we can have our competition in something else, but frankly I don't really care what we do, since I know I'll win-"

"Fine, I challenge you to think up of a challenge before me! Go!"

"Wait, wha-?"

"Eating contest! Boom, point for the Green Team!"

"Hey, now wait just a damn minute-!"

"What, you sore about losing a competition as easy as that?! I always knew you were a bit slow in the brain, Viper, but this is a new step back for you!"

"_That's it! _You want a contest, fine! I'll give you a contest that'll blow your sorry ass to kingdom come!"

"Oh, is that a promise or a threat?!"

"BOTH!" he roared, glaring menacingly at the green-eyed woman as she shot a dangerous look back at him. "Alright, best two out of three! First challenge, first one to the Oasis Inn wins!"

"A race across the city? Sounds good to me! Ready when you are, pansy!"

"Just gimme one second… Wes!"

"What?!" the dual blade wielder replied from across the yard, turning away from the dummy he had been practicing with. "I'm busy right now!"

"I need you to climb up that wall and get my arrow down! It's my lucky arrow!"

"…Are you kidding me?! That's a thirty foot climb, man! That wall doesn't have any handholds!"

"Then figure it out! I've got a score to settle right now!"

"Aw come on!"

"Ready to go yet?" Emmy asked, tapping her foot impatiently. Viper could practically feel a vein bulge from the side of his head in irritation.

"Yeah, as a matter of fact, I- _GO!"_

"Wait, what? _HEY!"_

* * *

"'Bout time you caught up, slowpoke," Viper laughed, leaning against the wall of the inn as the green-haired archer came to a stop before him.

"You cheated!" she wheezed, breathing heavily from running for so long. "The head start was bad enough, but then you knocked a pile of barrels into my path!"

"Sorry, I didn't realize we weren't allowed to use the environment to our advantage," he shrugged, making his tone as condescending as possible. "Guess next time we'll have to play by your baby rules instead of actual hunter's guidelines."

"You son of a-! Ooh, you are _asking _for it now! Fine, since you got to name the first challenge, I get the second one! First one to eat a plate of spicy curry at the Land of Dreams café wins!"

"A race _and _an eating challenge? You really have no idea what you're getting yourself into, do you?! Alright, I'm in! Loser pays for both meals!"

"Sounds fair enough," the huntress smirked as they turned in the direction of the café; it was almost two blocks north of them. "Ready, set-" The huntress quickly whirled to the side, striking Viper across the face with a backhanded swing and knocking him over backwards with a surprised yelp. "_GO!"_

"Agh… Scheming little bi- hey! Get the hell back here!"

* * *

"How did my dust taste with the last bite of that platter, snake boy?" Emerald sneered as Viper stepped out of the café with a dark expression.

"I can respect the headstart thing, but sucker punching me? Now _that _is cheating."

"Oh, boo hoo! Cry about it. I tawt big stwong huntuhs were supposed to handle anything that happens," she said, her tone just as mocking as his had been before, if not more so. "Or was your talk as big as that ego of yours?!"

"I can tell you it isn't as big as that mouth of yours, greenie!" Viper shot back, earning a furious glare from the huntress. "Last I checked we still had one more contest to go before a winner was decided, so let's make it an interesting one, huh?"

"What do you mean?"

"Dual Horn Tavern is a well-known hook up spot for hunters after the job. First one to get a date secured there wins!"

"What kind of challenge is that?! That wouldn't be useful for a hunt at all!"

"Oh, it wouldn't be? Well, what if you have to go on a hunt with someone you haven't met before, hmm? The situation would require that you adapt as quickly as possible to make sure you all survive the fight!"

"Grr… Fine, you're on! But no cheap head starts or sucker punches this time, deal?"

"You should be asking yourself that, greenie," Viper said. "Fine, we start on go. Ready… GO!"

* * *

"I was first!" the pair shouted at each other simultaneously.

"Bull crap, I had a date set way before you even broke the ice," the yellow-eyed archer scoffed.

"As if! I'd been talking with that guy for ages, _before _you even began talking with that lady!"

"You mean that shrimpy little pale kid? He was more terrified of you than a newbie hunter would be of a Diablos!"

"I secured one, didn't I?!"

"Not before me! Do you have a judge to say who won? Didn't think so!"

"You jackass, that means you don't have any proof either! No one was keeping track!"

"That is not… Shit. Alright, fine, this challenge was a tie. What now?"

"I don't know, I thought this would be the last one! Think of something!"

"I thought of the last one, you think of something!"

"You are such an idiot!"

"At least I didn't paint my head green!"

"You egotistical son of a-!"

"You insufferable little-!"

* * *

"Ow ow ow…" Wes groaned, rolling his arms repeatedly in an attempt to return feeling to his limbs.

After Viper and Emerald had run off on their next contest of who-knows-what, he'd tried to figure out a way to get Viper's arrow down from the wall. The surface of the wall was almost completely flat, leaving him with absolutely nothing to grab onto, and there weren't any ladders available that went that high. After almost fifteen minutes of useless searching, he enlisted the help of Frost and Snow. After a quick brainstorming session, Snow came up with the solution they had used: Frost would plant the bottom of his sword's scabbard into the ground and activate the quckdraw function while Wes held onto the hilt, rocketing him up into the air along with it. Snow would then catch him as he fell. Despite nearly having both of his arms ripped off from the force of the quickdraw, and the flustered stammering he was reduced to after falling face-first into Snow's ample bosom, the huntress' idea had gone off without a hitch, and Wes had snagged Viper's arrow from the wall successfully.

He found himself having a newfound respect for the long sword user, though. Frost was able to use the quickdraw at least two or three times per hunt, and with only one arm. A single shot had reduced both of Wes' arms to strained messes that he could barely use at the moment, his grip barely holding around the shaft of the arrow. He had just gotten out of the medical ward after a few hours of having them checked up, and Connor had recommended he keep from using them from any strenuous activities for the next few days.

"Better give Viper his damn arrow back and get back to my room," he mumbled, trying to shake the life back into his arms. He had asked Sapphire and Amethyst if they had seen Viper and Emerald return to headquarters while he was occupied with retrieving the yellow-eyed archer's arrow, and they had reported seeing both about fifteen minutes before, so he wasn't too far behind them. The hunter walked up to the door to Viper's room and tapped on the entrance lightly with his foot, though he was puzzled when he didn't hear a reply. He tapped again using the arrow, which rang dully as the metal tip clacked against the wood, but even after that there was no response. "Ah well, he never locks his door anyways. I'll just drop this inside and be on my way…"

The hunter opened the door to Viper's room and stepped inside quickly, rounding the corner to the archer's desk and tossing the arrow down on top of the papers and books strewn throughout it. He turned to leave, but heard a muffled grunt from the bed behind him, causing him to turn around with a questioning look.

"Viper? Were you sleeping? Sorry, just dropping off the- wait a minute, is that… Emerald? What are you… _WHAT?!"_

"Wes, this is between me and her! Get the hell out of here!"

"We've been trying to break the tie for two and a half hours, and this was the only thing we could think of that we haven't done yet!"

"That doesn't even make any-! You know what, nevermind, I'm just going to go and bleach my eyeballs."

"Thank you!"

* * *

Master Corps Dossier #5

Emerald Mancino

Hair: Green, short

Eyes: Green

Height: 5 ft 9 in

Weight: N/A

Age: 20-21

Favorite Color: Green (except the shade of Viper's armor)

Weapon of Choice: Bow

Most Notable Trait: Competitiveness

The third of the Gem Sisters, Emerald is known as a keen shot with a bow, to the extent that her accuracy rivals Viper's. She is most well-known for her extremely competitive nature, where if she feels challenged in any way she'll insist upon a competition to determine who is right (side note, seems to challenge Viper most often). Acts as the second in command of the Gems, and is Ruby's closest confidant, but works very closely with Amethyst too. Out of the group, she has the hardest time working with others. On hunts, she tries to apply status effects or reduce target's mobility to provide openings for her teammates to use. Also the designated bomb-detonater, which she takes much pleasure in. Has been seen purchasing dirty magazines in the market on occasion, then setting them on fire.

The most likely to pick a fight over the smallest thing.

* * *

**Author Notes: Please review! I think it goes without saying that a chapter like this one was to be expected, considering how often Viper and Emerald have clashed since the start of the story. This one just stretches the bounds of how ridiculous these competitions get between them! I could have gone on for a bit longer in their contests, but I figured it was better to let your minds wander about all the stupid things these two have gotten into a fight over. And, since I think I forgot to mention last chapter, both that one and this chapter take place before the Tower Incident, so no big spoilers here.**

**And, as I'm sure I've said many times, I'm willing to take any and all suggestions for what you'd like to see the cast get up to next! This includes the Frontier Lineage cast as well, who I already have a plan for at the moment; any character I have is fair game for a supplementary chapter!**


	4. Forge

The Master Corps: Supplementary Chapters

**_Disclaimer: I do not own Monster Hunter. The game belongs entirely to Capcom. All characters that appear in this story belong to me, unless otherwise stated._**

**Edited by: dashboardgecko**

**This chapter is Canonical with TMC**

* * *

SC4: Forge

Wes yawned quietly as he strode down the center of the street. It was late at night, and most every shop had already closed down by then. There were a few tired looking peddlers and hunters going about their business, most returning home after the day's work as far as he could tell. It was times like this that Wes enjoyed the most, where the city noise had finally quieted down and left Loc Lac as a quiet and peaceful city beneath a large pale moon and a vast sea of stars.

It had been quite a long time since he'd taken a midnight stroll like this. Wes was used to sneaking out of his home in Moga some nights to just walk the streets and relax his mind, and had taken to doing the same since arriving in Loc Lac. After the incident at the Misty Peaks, though, he'd had difficulties trying to find the time to go out like this. Not to mention Silver's constant presence making it difficult for him to settle down and get to sleep.

As he continued on, a light clanging from down the street drew his attention. It sounded like a smithy at work, but that wouldn't have made sense. Most every smith would have been closed for a couple hours by now. Curious, Wes made his way towards the source of the sounds, eventually coming to a stop outside of a relatively new smithy. A sign above the door read 'Self-Service Smithy- For hunters on the go!'

"Huh, I never heard about a place like this before," Wes mused, looking up at the building with an intrigued gleam in his eye. "Must be for hunters who know how to tend their own gear. Some smiths can charge a fortune for repairs after all..."

_I bet your old man would love this place. Why not check it out? Looks like it's open twenty-four-seven._

_Eh, why not. Exploring is always a bit fun._

The dual blade wielder stepped into the building, noting that there were several 'rooms' on either end that someone could walk into and have their own workplace. There were six rooms in total, though only the last one on the left was lit at the moment, light pouring out from the barely open door. Wondering who would be working on armor this late, the hunter approached the forge, peeking in quietly with a raised eyebrow. He was surprised to see that it was Frost inside, currently grinding the edge of his blue-bladed long sword on a stoneroller. His helm rested on the floor beside his seat, revealing his shaggy white hair, though he currently had his back to the door.

_Probably shouldn't bug him, _Wes thought, pushing away from the door slightly. _Not like he'd be up for conversation anyways…_

"You're up late, Wes."

The man's voice startled the dual blade wielder; how had Frost known he was there? Then again, Frost did seem to have an almost supernatural sense of his surroundings, so it shouldn't have really come as that much of a shock.

"Eh… Yeah, so are you," the dual blade wielder replied, opening the door a bit. "Mind if I come in?"

"I'm not stopping you."

With a shrug, Wes stepped inside, shutting the door once he was within the room. The forging chamber was relatively spacious, about fifteen feet long and twelve feet wide. There was a small forge in the corner, above which a large vent that led to a chimney on the roof was located. A metal work table was pushed up to the wall beside it, while in the opposite corner there was a quick-tanning rack for leather and pelts. The grindstone Frost was seated at laid in the center of the room, looking as though it had been pulled away from its usual place beside the tanning rack.

"Snow isn't with you?" the dual blade wielder asked. It was strange trying to strike up a conversation with the man, especially since they had only spoken once before.

"She's asleep right now. No need to disturb her."

"Ah, I see… What're you doing out here though?"

"Repairing my sword," Frost replied simply, not looking up from the grindstone as he continued to hone the blade's edge. "The quickdraw takes its toll on the blade, so I have to make sure it stays in good condition."

"Yeah, that thing definitely packs a punch. I still can't believe you can use it as well as you can. Damn near ripped both of my arms off when I tried it all those months back…"

"It wasn't intended to be used as a glorified pogo stick, but there was much less danger in what you were doing. Trying to direct the blade as it leaves the sheath is the difficult part."

"I feel like being launched thirty feet into the air still classifies as 'dangerous', but yeah, I was better after a few hours. Exactly where did you get a sword like this though?"

"This blade originally belonged to my father. After his death, I took it and had it modified with the quickdraw mechanism in Chatla Village."

"That industrial town on the edge of the Tundra?"

"The same."

"My Pa gets a lot of things shipped from there for his own projects, but I've never been there before. Is it true that there's a large ice carving in the middle of the town?"

"Yes. It was made to resemble an Elder Dragon referred to as a Kushala Daora."

"Kushala Daora, huh? I've read about them. They usually live in cold, mountainous regions, but they aren't common at all in Venatoria, even by typical elder dragon standards. Still, the Tundra seems like a place one would visit at some point, so having a sculpture of one makes sense. Still, I wonder what inspired the artist to carve it instead of something native to this country, like a Barioth or something."

"Perhaps there's a story behind it. What that is, I do not know." The long sword user at last pushed himself from the grindstone, the edge of his blade shimmering slightly in the light of the forge across from him. Wes could tell that the blade was incredibly sharp as the white-haired hunter returned it to the weapon's scabbard, a long metallic _shing _resounding as the blade sank into the sheath.

"Why not have one of the smiths handle that for you?" Wes asked as Frost returned the sword to its place on his belt. "I mean, communication might be an issue, but is staying up until midnight to do it yourself much better?"

"I prefer to work with the blade using my own hand," Frost answered, glancing back at the dual blade wielder with his icy blue eyes. "A warrior must learn to grow with the weapon they have in order to master its use. This means not only using it in combat, but tending to it whenever possible to ensure it can handle whatever trials come next."

"That's an interesting philosophy. I guess that's why you choose to use that long sword all the time then. I'm kinda the same way with dual blades, but I like to use whatever else I can get my hands on when I'm practicing. I figure it's important to know how to use everything I can so I can be ready for a situation where I have to use one."

"It is a commendable mindset. Not many would have the dedication to learn so many different styles."

"Eh… Well, I guess what I said wasn't entirely true. Sure, it's nice to be ready for anything and all that, but there's more to it than that. You mentioned getting your sword from your father, right? And you've kept using it for all these years, so clearly you respected him a lot."

"More than most anyone, yes. He was a fine warrior, and a respectable man."

"Exactly, but that didn't keep you from modifying the blade to suit you better. In the end, it's your sword now, not his. Your hand guides the blade. And your way of doing so is different, even though it might share some similarities with his. It's the same for me and my Pa. He's leagues better than me at hunting, and I've never beaten him once whenever we sparred before. It kinda seems like everything I do, he's already done better at it. I use dual blades because I want to surpass him, but I know that if I'm more familiar with all the weapon types than him, I'll still have a slight edge over him."

"So you have mixed feelings about him then?"

"No. Well… Not in a bad way, at least. Sure, it pisses me off to know that I still haven't caught up with him, but at the same time it gives me a goal to reach for. Just kind of wish it wasn't so far outside my reach sometimes…"

"Don't sell yourself short. You're a formidable hunter yourself, Wes. You are also young. Your father has had much more experience than you have. Can you be faulted for lacking that?"

"I guess not, no. That takes time, and you're right, he's had a lot more of that than me. And it's not like he's better than me at _everything. _He can't cook for beans, for one, and I always was a bit more agile than him."

"Hmm… The way you speak of him is interesting," Frost stated after a moment. "You are quick to point out what you lack in comparison, yet you also speak of how you are better than him. There's an imbalance in your tone caused by that."

"I never noticed that… I guess you're right," Wes agreed, scratching the back of his head.

"Perhaps I can provide some advice. The way you view your father is imbalanced. You deride yourself and praise him, but you also point out his weaknesses compared to your strengths. Those are two opposites. Instead of viewing him as both greater and lesser than you, view him as an equal. Accept that he is better in some ways, and weaker in others. Accepting that truth is the first step in matching any challenge, be it man or beast. …Or, perhaps in your case, women."

"Okay, don't you start with that too. You're the one who bought me a stack of adult novels, remember? Still, you've got a point… I'll put some more thought into it. Thanks, Frost."

"Don't mention it."

"Can I ask you something though? Why give me advice like that just out of the blue?"

"Because I feel you are confused with yourself. When I first met you, you acted overconfident, headstrong, and reckless. After awakening from your injuries, you became almost the exact opposite. I am interested in this, and wish to see you discover your true self. You will become all the stronger for it."

"Well, that's nice of you, but why does-"

"And once you've finally discovered yourself, I wish to spar with you myself to see how strong you actually are."

"…Oh. Er… Well, uh, looking forward to that… Anyways, I think I'm going to head back now, so… good luck with the weapon fixing and… stuff."

* * *

**Author Notes: Please Review! So, a little lighter on the comedy this time around, but considering Frost isn't the humorous type, that's to be expected. Still, he does get his moments! I was trying to further elaborate on Frost's character this time around, however, since he hasn't really spoken much in the main story anyways. Basically, he's the "Aloof Big Bro" to Snow's "Cool Big Sis" characterization, at least in regards to Wes. I based the central four characters around the idea of a family consisting of only siblings, with Frost and Snow being the older half. Let me know if you thought that was well done or not; I always appreciate the feedback!**

**EDIT: Shoutout to KingStonecold for suggesting the use of the forge for this one! Sorry about that not showing up in the initial posting, I had some technical difficulties on my end. **


	5. Mechanic

The Master Corps: Supplementary Chapters

**_Disclaimer: I do not own Monster Hunter. The game belongs entirely to Capcom. All characters that appear in this story belong to me, unless otherwise stated._**

**Edited by: dashboardgecko**

**This chapter is Canonical with TMC**

* * *

SC5: Mechanic

"Whew, finally got the day to myself," York sighed, sitting back in his desk chair and breathing a short sigh. Fortunately for him, Hugh and Zephyr had come to visit Moga for the week, so York was able to give the apprentices a few days off. Aquila had gotten a ticket back to Loc Lac for a few days, and had mentioned visiting his brother. So, this left his schedule open for the most part. "Looks like I can finally get some more work done on my projects here."

The hunter pulled a few bits of metal towards himself, many of which had already been shaped for construction. He'd come up with the design a while ago, but he had never really found the time to put much work into it, despite having it ready for assembly for a couple weeks now. Grabbing hold of a screwdriver and one of the sides of the contraption, the brown-haired man began to construct the device, fitting a few springs and thin steel cages into the side he was working on. He found it relaxing to work with his hands on projects like this, and with all the training he'd had to do with the students and the odd jobs the Guild occasionally sent him on, he needed it. He wasn't too far into his project, though, before he heard a knock on the door to his work room.

"Hey, York?" Rose asked, opening the door slightly and peeking her head in. "Sorry to bug you on your day off, but the sink has been acting fussy lately… Mind taking a look at it for me?"

"Well, I was… Ah, it'll only take a minute," the man sighed, pushing himself up from his desk. "And for the record, I don't think you can really 'bug me' on my day off, considering we've been married for almost twenty years now."

"You do have a point there, but I know you like to have your work-away-from-work time too, dear."

York followed his wife into the kitchen, grabbing a wrench along the way out of his work room. The man knelt down low and opened the cupboard beneath the sink, inspecting the pipes within carefully.

"Exactly what has the problem been?"

"Well, the water kinda sputters a bit if it runs for a few seconds, and I noticed it tastes a little salty too, so I think the filter is messed up."

"The filter? Great, guess I need to disconnect the whole thing then," York grumbled, leaning into the cupboard and beginning to loosen the pipes carefully. It took him almost a half hour to finally get the pipe out of the way, and he quickly removed the old filter that had been in place and screwed a new, fresh one into place. After securing the main pipe once more, the one-eyed hunter checked to make sure the water flowed normally. He breathed a short sigh of relief as the faucet let out a small torrent of fresh, purified water as it used to. "There we go. Guess I gotta replace these things more often. At least I didn't have to go under to check the mains… Now then, back to my-"

"York, could you come up here for a second?" Rose called from the floor above, having gone up while he was working on the sink.

"…Nevermind." The hunter groaned slightly as he pushed himself up from his uncomfortable position beneath the sink before making his way up the stairs to his and Rose's shared bedroom. His wife was standing by the door leading out to their balcony, frowning at the glass pane before her. "What's the problem?"

"The door won't open… Do you think that last storm we had messed up the track again?"

"Wait, why were you trying to get outside? Weren't you working in the kitchen?"

"Well, yes, but my Fatty Tomato plant is out there, and I planned on using it for a special sauce I was making."

"Do you want me to just climb around the house and grab one for you?"

"I suppose you could… but why not just fix the door while you're out there?"

"…Guess I can't argue with that logic…" the man sighed. "Hopefully this won't take too long…"

Almost an hour later, York had finally finished replacing the old track of the door with a newer one. As it had turned out, the last storm that had blown through had broken off one of the posts on the railing, and a chunk of wood had embedded itself into the track. After replacing the door, the hunter decided he should probably fix the post too, before Rose heckled him for not doing so sooner. It was tough trying to mend the wood properly, and he found himself occasionally having to pull a splinter out of one of his fingers, but after about twenty minutes he had the post looking as good as new.

"Whew… That took a while, huh? Glad there isn't anything else I-"

"York, come inside for a second! Something's up with the shower!"

"…I had to say it."

York found himself having to fix several more things around the house afterwards: the shower nozzle had somehow fallen off the wall completely, blasting the inside of the bathroom with water and requiring a few screws and a bit of luck to fix; some of the shelves in the living room had begun to creak and groan unexpectedly, requiring York to re-anchor them and ensure nothing would fall; one of the pipes beneath the house had gotten plugged up by some debris as well, requiring him to climb beneath the house in order to reach it- upon shutting off the mains and loosening the pipe, he found that it had been blocked by a rubber Qurupeco bath toy.

"How the hell did this even get in there? Was someone at the water tower playing a joke or something? That isn't sanitary in the slightest…" he mumbled, squeaking the toy once before setting it aside. He was able to successfully reinstall the pipe, though at one point his grip had slipped on the wet metal, making him fall headfirst into the water below. He climbed up the ladder onto the balcony after fitting the pipe into place, soaking wet and wearing a sour expression.

"Are you alright York? Did you fall in?" Rose asked, taking the rubber toy out of his hand as he walked by and squeaking it curiously.

"Plumbers usually don't have to do their job while hanging upside down," he replied, shaking the water out of his hair and grabbing a towel to dry himself off with. "Not even the ones from that weird story book Wes liked when he was younger."

"You mean the Marco Brothers books? I thought those were kinda clever at least. For a kids book, that is."

"Doesn't mean that whoever wrote them wasn't high off of exciteshrooms while working on them. Anyways, is that everything that needs to be taken care of around here?"

"Well, there is one more thing…"

"Fuck."

"Oh, don't be a baby. It's just the washing machine this time. It wouldn't start earlier, so I was thinking there might be something up with the power supply."

"What? I changed it last week! There's no way you did that much laundry in four days, Rose. Lagiacrus Sapphires last for at least three months."

"Well, none of the lights on that thing turned on, so maybe it got loosened or something. Come on, this one will only take a second, I promise."

"…Fine, fine, let's just get this over with…"

The pair went inside to the small room beneath the stairs, which had formerly acted as an extra closet, but that Rose had converted into their laundry room a few years prior. It was a tight space, but they both managed to fit without too much trouble. York quickly set about inspecting the large mechanical box; sure enough, none of the lights were working, and the machine wouldn't turn on despite having a fresh sapphire powering it. Everything seemed fine, it just wouldn't activate.

"Well, I have no clue what's wrong with it."

"Oh… Are you sure? I mean, can't you try something at least?"

"Eh… I could try _something, _but I doubt it would work. It's not very technical."

"At this point, I'd be alright with anything, dear."

"Alright, here goes nothing…"

The hunter turned once more to the box before slamming his foot into the side of the washing machine, rattling the device from the force of the blow. He took a step back as there was a large metallic _clunk _from within_, _and a moment later the various lights along the upper panel flickered to life.

"Huh, it actually worked. Go figure."

"Wow, I didn't think it would be that easy! Next time, maybe I should try that!"

"So is that everything then? Can I _please _get back to what I was working on three hours ago?"

"Yes, sorry about dragging you away from it for so long," Rose apologized, giving him a quick hug and a kiss on the cheek. "I do really appreciate all the help though! How about I cook your favorite Kelbi steak burgers for dinner as thanks?"

"…You are forgiven," he replied, returning the gesture warmly. They separated after a couple seconds, and York at last returned to his work room, settling down at the desk and letting out a long breath. He immediately returned to working on the small device, piecing together the rest of the half he had been working on before moving onto the other one. He wasn't even halfway through that, though, before there was a knock on the front door. York ignored it, though, hoping that Rose would answer and deal with whoever it was without needing to interrupt him.

"Hey, York? Kalim just came by and was wondering if you could help him set up a new ceiling fan."

"Why does he need my help? They come with instructions! Can't his wife help him?"

"She's six months pregnant."

"…Seriously? When did that happen?"

"…Six months ago, I'd assume."

"Ah, that's… Right. Damn, I should start paying attention to my neighbors more…" York sighed. "I'll be right there."

* * *

It wasn't until the early evening that York finally returned home, having helped his neighbor with setting up the fan and doing a quick check on the other devices that were giving Kalim trouble. At least, York _wished _it had been quick; he'd had to fix just about everything and give the man directions on how to operate each one without breaking it. It had become clear that Kalim was not savvy with technology whatsoever, leaving most of the work to York. The only real boon to all of that was the fifty gold payment he was able to get for his services, which he set aside for himself in his emergency fund. The hunter tiredly returned to his work chamber after returning, greeting his wife as he walked past the kitchen.

"I swear to whatever gods actually exist, if one more thing interrupts me I'm going to throw my axe at it," he grumbled, seating himself once more and returning to work.

It took about fifteen minutes to put the second half of the device together, leaving only the middle section that connected the two left. He set about fitting the rest of the pieces together and screwing the last few bolts in, despite expecting to be interrupted once again by some menial task. Eventually, he completed the device, setting his tools down with a proud, yet exhausted smirk as he gazed over the newly-constructed device. He eagerly got to his feet and took the shoebox-sized metal box to the kitchen, setting it down on the table with a wide grin as Rose turned to look.

"Oh, you finished it! That's great!" she said, getting some food from the stove onto a pair of plates for them. "What does it do though?"

"Well, you know how you've had a hard time heating those slices of heaven bread up for breakfast?" York asked, taking his plate and setting it on the table across from her. "They either come out unchanged, or burned to a crisp. This is the solution to that. You put two slices in either of these slots on the top, and you push this little lever down. It heats the bread for a set amount of time, and pops it out as soon as it's done! I just thought it was a little something to help make your life a little bit easier."

"You… made this for me? Wow, I don't know what to say!" Rose replied, glancing over the device eagerly. "Do you know what you're going to call this thing? I bet they'd sell like crazy!"

"I think I'll call it a 'toaster'. Y'know, cuz it toasts bread. And I think they would too, but getting all the materials to make even one of them is… surprisingly difficult, actually. I had to import some materials from overseas to get the desired effect, so… It actually would cost more to make than to sell."

"Oh, that's too bad. Still, I appreciate it, York. We can try it out after we eat, okay?"

"Sounds good to me. And before you ask, I did not have to import gunlance parts for it. It will not explode. ...At least, it _shouldn't _explode."

* * *

_Classified Guild Dossier #1_

York Adler

Hair: graying-brown, medium-unkempt

Eyes: Clear blue left, right covered by eyepatch (glows blue when under effects of Spirit Mode)

Height: 6 ft 1 in

Weight: 186 lbs

Age: 43

Favorite Color: White (only with a blue accent)

Weapons of Choice: Dual Swords, Tomahawk, Wrist Blades

Most Notable Trait: Craftiness

Widely known as a legendary hunter from the pre-advancement era of hunting, York has proven himself as a superb fighter, a nimble climber, a skilled craftsmen, and an exceptional runner. Is known to have been directly involved with the B.D. (Brilliant Darkness) Incident twenty years prior, but was pardoned of any crimes committed during that period due to slaying the Alatreon and saving the country. Has a very cynical attitude, and often has some kind of sarcastic remark at the ready for any situation. Despite this, he's displayed intense care for friends and family, whom he wishes to protect as best he can. In battle, he often approaches targets in a roundabout way, not always directly engaging and using all manner of tools in a pragmatic manner. When pushed to the extreme, is known to use a special form of the Demon Dance technique referred to as "Spirit Mode" which enhances his physical capabilities to superhuman levels, but is speculated to shorten the lifespan of the user in exchange. Repeatedly gripes about not having enough money. Currently owns and operates as the sole instructor at the Moga Village Hunter's Training Academy, where he teaches Cassian Leovirtus, Iliana Soyokaze, and Aquila Perditus. Supposedly harbors a strong disdain for religious factions, especially ones that come knocking on his doorstep.

The most likely to jinx a situation.

* * *

_Classified Guild Dossier #2_

Rose Benevolus Adler

Hair: Light brown, medium-long, often tied back into a ponytail

Eyes: Bright Green

Height: 5 ft 8 in

Weight: N/A (York knows, but declines to share that information)

Age: 42 (looks like she's just past thirty)

Favorite Color: Blue

Weapons of Choice: Bow, Sword and Shield

Most Notable Trait: Generosity

The only one of the "original four" to have truly retired from hunting at this point, Rose is a former huntress who specialized in the use of bows. Was York's hunting partner for a period of seven years before beginning a relationship with him; during this period of time, she came to learn about his past affiliations and life, both of which she accepted wholeheartedly. She played a crucial role in the slaying of the Alatreon as well. The mother of Wes, she was somewhat overbearing and worried after him constantly throughout his life, and is also the indirect cause of his awful womanizing skills. Currently runs a cooking business of sorts where she sells boxed lunches to the townspeople of Moga, actually giving her a more reliable (and larger) income than her husband, much to his chagrin. Has a very gentle heart and wishes to help everyone she can. Has a reputation for having a legendarily low alcohol tolerance.

The most likely to spend York's money.

* * *

**Author Notes: Please review! Wow, it's been awhile since I posted a supplementary chapter, huh? Come to think of it, it's been a while since I posted anything... Bleh, I've been pretty busy since classes started up again, so I'm doing my best here. The next few chapters of TMC are in the works, I have a few more Supplementary chapters on the way, and I even have a couple new story ideas brewing in the background, so expect a lot of things from me in the near future! ...Just not, y'know, all at once or in a very timely fashion. Also, first supplementary chapter to feature characters from the old generation! I'm planning on one that features Hugh and Zephyr as well, so keep an eye out for them in the future too!**


	6. Tricks and Treats

The Master Corps: Supplementary Chapters

**_Disclaimer: I do not own Monster Hunter. The game belongs entirely to Capcom. All characters that appear in this story belong to me, unless otherwise stated._**

**Edited by: dashboardgecko**

**This chapter is Non-Canonical with TMC**

* * *

SC6-Tricks and Treats

"Yo, Wes? You almost ready to go, bud?"

"Yeah, just one more second! This stupid cape keeps coming undone!"

"Well, hurry it up! The others are probably ready by now, and I don't want to be late to the costume contest!"

"And… there! All set!"

Wes opened the door to his room and stepped out into the hallway, where Viper was waiting for him. The blue- and green-eyed hunter was currently garbed in light grey robes, beneath which was a white shirt with long, flowing sleeves. The robes were accented by red stripes running vertically down his chest, and a red sash with a metallic emblem was tied around his waist. He had dark pants on as well, though much of his legs were covered by a pair of tall brown boots that ended just above the knee. His right hand was covered by a black glove, while a leather bracer adorned his left wrist. A brown cape with red lining was wrapped over his left shoulder, and a beaked hood covered his head.

"Well? How do I look?" he asked, holding his arms out to the sides so Viper could get a better look at the outfit.

"Like you went back in time a couple hundred years so you could stab some people," the archer replied. "And what about me? Fits pretty well, don't it?"

The golden-eyed man wore a mostly-green outfit, similar in shade to his hunting armor. A forest-green tunic covered his torso, and was accompanied by a floppy green hat. Curiously, the man also had a parted brown wig on, which covered his normally black hair and allowed both of his eyes to be seen for once. Beneath the tunic, a layer of chainmail could be seen, and a white shirt beneath that. He had a pair of brown gloves on his hands, accompanied by two blue bracers around his wrists. Viper's legs were covered with baggy tan pants and a pair of brown boots. Across his back, a sword and shield were strapped to a belt that wrapped around his chest. The sword had a winged purple handguard and a yellow gemstone in it, while the sheath was mostly blue and yellow in coloration. The shield was mostly blue as well, though with a crest consisting of a trio of golden triangles and a large red bird.

"Pretty good," Wes replied, giving his friend a thumbs up. "Really adventurous. But what's with the skirt?"

"It's a tunic, not a skirt!"

"Coulda fooled me, bow boy."

"Hey Wes! Hey Viper! All set for the contest?"

The pair turned to face Sapphire as she shut her door behind her. The blue-haired huntress' costume was a fair bit more risqué than either of them had anticipated, and much of her upper body was uncovered save for the blue cloth wrapping around her chest. A pair of detached sleeves covered her arms, while a white cape with blue lining similar to Wes' covered her left arm, and a metal pauldron rested on her shoulder. Around her waist was a skirt consisting of a blue layer, a lavender layer, and a white layer, each one ending in a jagged frill. A belt with a large blue gemstone embedded in it kept the skirt up, and her legs were covered by white leggings and gold-lined indigo shoes. Her hair was tied into a ponytail on the right side of her head by a blue and red ribbon, adorned by a white feather. She had a large leather book in her arms as well which was designed to look like a magic spell book.

"Wow. That's… quite the outfit, Saph," Wes remarked, blinking in surprise. Considering how modestly Sapphire usually dressed, he was completely caught off guard by her current appearance.

"Do you think it's too… I dunno, gaudy? It was this or the dark mage one, and that one was a little too revealing for me. This one's almost bad enough…"

"No, no! You look great, honestly! Er… I mean, uh… It's fine…?"

"Smooth," Viper chuckled, seeing Wes' face flush with embarrassment as he scratched the back of his head awkwardly. "Anyways, yeah, we're all set. We were going to head down and get the others before heading to the contest, but you can tag along too if you want."

"Great, sounds good to me! Hey, Wes, our capes kinda match!"

"Eh? Oh, uh, yeah, I… suppose they do. Kinda."

The trio headed down two flights of stairs back to Viper's floor, talking about the city-wide costume event that was being held. It was customary each year towards the end of the fall season to dress up in various outfits to celebrate a good harvest and, supposedly, ward off evil spirits. Some particularly zealous practitioners also carved faces into Bumblepumpkins, or went so far as to make them into actual hunter-grade armor sets. In fact, it was apparently a hunting tradition in some parts to wear these outfits on at least one hunt, though it was often hard to tell who had actually gone on them due to the outfits often concealing the wearer's identity.

Viper was the first one to reach the floor, followed immediately after by Wes and Saph. The dual blade wielder looked up curiously as he heard Viper let out a surprised gawk. He could hardly contain a loud chuckle as he saw what Viper was so surprised about.

"What the hell, Greenie?! Why are you wearing the same outfit as me?!"

"Same outfit as you?! I've had this costume ready for weeks!" Emerald replied, staring daggers at the golden-eyed man. She had a smaller outfit than Viper's to better fit her body, but it was otherwise the exact same as his. "If anything, you're copying me!"

"Like hell I'd copy you! That is the last thing I'd ever dream about doing!"

"Funny you should say that, considering you copied my draw stance last week on that Uragaan job?!"

"What do you mean, 'copied'?! How the hell else am I supposed to draw a bow, with my feet?!"

"Quit making excuses for yourself, jackass!"

Sapphire and Wes quietly glanced between the exchange as the pair continued hurling insults at each other for the next few minutes. Just as Emerald was about to shout something else about him, though, the door behind her suddenly opened up, revealing a tall armored figure behind her. This costume was a futuristic-looking outfit made almost entirely of orange and red metallic plates. The most noticeable traits of the suit were the right arm, which had been replaced by what looked to be a cannon, and the extremely large, spherical pauldrons on the shoulders. There were a few parts on the set that glowed a luminescent green, the most prevalent of which were two lights on the chest and the green visor of the helmet.

"Hey… what's all the yelling about?"

"A… Amethyst?" Wes asked, stunned by the complexity of the armor. "Is… that you in there?"

"Yeah… This isn't too revealing, is it?"

"Revealing? I can't even tell it's a woman beneath all of that!" Viper said, looking over the bowgunner's outfit. Wes wasn't sure whether the purple-haired huntress took offense to that comment at first, though she slowly leveled the cannon and Viper, drawing a nervous laugh from the man. "Eh… That… doesn't actually work, does i-"

_Bzap!_

"_Shit!"_

A small yellow ball of energy shot out of the end of the cannon just as Viper threw his head back far enough to topple over backwards, letting out a surprised yelp as the orb flew right past his nose. The projectile continued past the group and struck the wall behind them, leaving a noticeable burn mark on the wallpaper. Emerald burst out into laughter as Viper rolled about on the ground, having struck his head on the floorboards as he fell backwards.

"What was that?" Wes asked, watching a steady trail of smoke rise from the singed mark.

"That was my energy ball…" Amethyst replied, the visor of her helmet glowing brighter and dimming between words. "I can shoot stuff with those. It's pretty neat…"

"Where did you get that outfit, Ammy?" Saph asked excitedly. "I didn't see anything like this at the shop!"

"I got it from some guys somewhere downtown," the bowgunner replied lazily. "They wanted a lock of hair in exchange for it, and I have to wear some weird body suit underneath it all, but… meh."

"Wow, that sounds like a good deal to me!"

"A lock of your hair?" Emmy asked, having calmed down from her fit of laughter. "What for?"

"I dunno… Can you please stop asking questions now…?"

"Yeah, I think we ought to get the others together," Wes remarked, helping Viper back up to his feet. The archer shook his head once, and he had a quickly-fading red circle on his forehead, but he didn't seem to have actually been harmed. "You alright, bow boy?"

"Yeah, yeah, just a little stunned is all… I was not anticipating that at all."

After getting the archer off the floor, the group proceeded to head down another couple flights of stairs to Frost and Snow's floor, passing by a few other costumed hunters on the way. While the other Gem Sisters went to get Ruby, Wes and Viper knocked on Snow's door. It only took a few moments for her to answer.

"Oh, hey guys!" the huntress greeted, pulling her door open. The white haired woman's costume consisted of long black robes with purple and gold accents, beneath which she wore a white V-neck shirt that left some of her cleavage visible. A purple and gold sash was wrapped around her waist, held up by a black belt with a pair of large golden buckles. She wore baggy white pants over her legs, as well as a pair of tall black boots. She held a small book made to resemble a tome in her left hand, while a jagged, lightning bolt-like sword was strapped to her side. Her normally loose hair had been tied up into a pair of ponytails on either side of her head, with the white strands resting on her shoulders and hanging past her collar. "You both look like you really went all out for this, huh?"

"We aren't the only ones it seems," Viper remarked, nodding at the blue-eyed huntress. "It suits you pretty well, Angel."

"Thanks, I thought it would too! Think it'll help tip the scales in my favor for this contest? I've never actually done anything like this before, so I'm not quite sure how the scoring works."

"No one usually knows; it's different each year," Wes noted with a shrug. "The judges have different tastes. According to my uncle, there's a new one for each contest. Last year they apparently held a Bumblepumpkin throwing contest, which he won by a landslide. Broke the national record, actually."

"Wow, really? What was the old one?"

"I think about two-hundred yards. Uncle Hugh beat that record by throwing the thing over the city walls. They couldn't even record the distance since the Bumblepumpkin fell into the sand sea."

"Yikes. Remind me not to get on his bad side," Viper remarked.

"Anyways, I'll get Frost and make sure he's all set to go," Snow said, stepping past the pair and knocking on the long sword user's door. "It'll only be a minute!"

"Well, tell him to hurry it up, would ya? The contest starts in a half hour, and I don't really want to be late for it."

"You do realize that any doubles are automatically disqualified, right?"

"That means you're out of the contest too, Greenie!"

"Yeah, because _somebody _decided to copy me!"

"I didn't copy you, for the love of-!"

"Both of you, can it already!"

The others looked to the side as Ruby stepped out of her room wearing a black blouse and a frilly skirt with red trimmings. She had black stockings and boots with red accents on as well. A bright red cloak with a long cape was attached to her shoulders with two cross-shaped pins, while a grey belt with a white rose insignia wrapped around her waist. Strapped to the back of her belt was a large rectangular device, crimson in color, that appeared to be able to unfold into something, though Wes couldn't imagine what.

"Oh, so you went with that outfit after all!" Saph exclaimed, walking up to her friend and looking her costume over. "It's like a future fairy tale outfit or something! You actually look kinda cute in that, y'know!"

"Ruby? Cute? Never thought I'd hear those two words in the same sentence."

"Shut up, Wes!"

Frost's door opened a moment later, halting their conversation from escalating into a full blown argument. The hunters watched as the white-haired man stepped out from within, wearing a rather menacing black suit that appeared almost as futuristic as Amethyst's. While her's was bulkier, though, Frost's appeared almost skin tight, and was covered with several plates of black and silver material covering his torso, arms, and legs. His fingertips appeared to end with silvery metal nails, while his feet ended with almost canine-like claws over his toes. Curiously, it looked almost like the boots he wore were high heeled shoes, which actually ended up making him even taller than he already was. Seeing as to how this was Frost, though, he still had his face concealed behind an opaque black visor, while what seemed like a metallic jaw cover wrapped around the lower portion of his face. On his back was an incredibly complicated looking sheath with a blue light on it, which held both a straight-edged katana and a small dagger. He came to a stop beside his twin, crossing his arms silently as the others stared up at him.

"Well, that's quite the outfit," Viper muttered. "What's he supposed to be? Some kinda robo-samurai thing?"

"Mechaman, maybe?"

"Looks like his name should be Zero."

"Why is he wearing heels? …What? Is that not the weirdest part about the outfit?!"

"No, it's- hey, wait, where's he going? Frost? Frost?! FROOOOOOOST!"

"…I guess we're moving on then," Wes chuckled as the man wordlessly stepped out of view down the stairs, and the group followed after him out of the HQ building.

The streets were absolutely filled with hunters garbed in various outfits and armors, while stores and buildings were decorated with seasonal things like carved bumblepumpkins and white cloth bedsheets meant to resemble ghosts. Wes himself hadn't ever been in Loc Lac during this season, but he had to admit, Moga's celebrations were almost pathetic in comparison to the hunting capital's. He and his group passed through crowds lit by orange or purple glowstone lamps, darted around children running by with bags filled with sweets, people scaring each other with masks made to resemble monsters (Wes in particular found the Gargwa one to be terrifying), and all other sorts of happenings that were going on. Of course, the majority of the city was heading towards the Loc Lac tower, at the foot of which the actual contest would be held. Wes himself didn't really have high hopes for winning: Frost and Amethyst easily showed him up, after all. Still, it'd be a fun thing to at least dress up a little and try.

It took about twenty minutes for them to work their way across the district to the tower, which thoroughly amazed them all, considering the crowd sizes. As they approached the sign up table to register themselves, though, Wes caught sight of his father and uncle standing off to the side conversing with each other. York was garbed in an outfit consisting of a forest camouflaged uniform with a black undersuit, combat boots, fingerless gloves, and a bandana across his forehead. A large pouch was belted to the back of his waist, while a few straps around his chest held a sheathed knife he could easily grasp with his left hand. A small gun-device was holstered on his leg as well.

Hugh, on the other hand, was wearing a pure white karate gi with the sleeves torn off, leaving them with jagged frills around the shoulders and showing off the man's incredibly toned arms. A black cloth belt was wrapped around his midsection, while his white pants seemed to have been torn around the ankles in a similar manner to the top. Bright red gloves covered his hands, and a red headband was tied around his forehead.

The pair seemed to take notice of the hunter's group around the table after a couple moments and made their way over to them, with Hugh patting Wes roughly on the shoulder, almost pushing him down to the ground with how much force he had behind the gesture.

"There you all are! We've been waiting out here for ya for almost twenty minutes!" Hugh laughed as Wes brushed himself off. "What took ya so long?"

"Some girl was bobbing for apples at a stall a few blocks back, and somehow a dog managed to find its way into the barrel," Viper sighed. "She started freaking out about dog germs and ran around in circles for a few minutes, which just made the crowds around her less likely to move."

"It _was _kind of funny, at least," Snow added.

"Nah, that girl does that almost every year," Sapphire said. "Honestly, I think it's become one of that store's traditions. It loses its charm after a few times, but at least it's kind of a tradition, right?"

"Why would anyone want to watch the exact same thing once a year?" Wes asked. "Even if it's tradition, wouldn't they at least try to make it a little different to not bore onlookers?"

"I didn't make the tradition, so I'm not sure."

"Are you both in the contest too?" Emerald asked the older hunters, abruptly changing the subject. "No offense, but those outfits look really… plain."

"I look plain? Lady, I've seen almost a hundred people dressed exactly like you try to enter the contest in the last half hour alone," York retorted. "Seriously, there's an entire crowd of people wearing the floppy hat and skirt combo over there. At least a few of them had the decency to change the color a little."

"_WHAT?! _You can't be- oh come on! Why does everybody have this outfit?! I thought it was unique!"

"You got unique and popular mixed up again, Emmy…" Amethyst remarked, leaving the green-eyed huntress fuming silently.

"To answer her question though, no, we aren't gonna be in the costume contest," Hugh said. "We're gonna be the judges!"

"You two?" Wes asked incredulously. "I thought you said the Guild normally picked Guild members to do the judging?"

"Well, it's kinda like… Er… York?"

"Normally they do, Wes, but there was a mishap with the two they originally picked for this year. What were their names… Trance and Corrin? Yeah, apparently a pair of Felynes wearing overalls and mustaches attacked them with mallets and left them both unconscious. Since they were on short notice and I'm friends with the Guildmaster… Well, things just kinda fell into place."

"Wow. Poor Trance…" Snow muttered. "Did they ever figure out why the Felynes attacked them?"

"Someone in the Guild said that Corrin guy has horrible luck when it comes to cats, but someone else mentioned it having to do with the keys to his mushroom garden."

"Why would Corrin have a mushroom garden?" Ruby asked.

"I have no clue, maybe he wanted to grow a mushroom to make himself taller or something. I don't know that guy, I'm just his stand in."

"Fair enough. But enough chit chat, we gotta head in before the contest starts! C'mon, all of you!"

Wes made to follow after the others as they filed in, but was stopped as York grabbed his shoulder.

"What is it, Pa?"

"Just so you know, I can't hand you the trophy just because you're my son, Wes. That being said… I really like the hood on that thing."

"Gee, thanks, Pa," the hunter laughed. "Don't worry, I didn't expect an easy victory anyways. Still, think there's I can still win somehow?"

"Shoryuken! Er… Sure you can!" Hugh interjected. "Depends on the rules of the contest itself, right, York?"

"True enough. See you onstage, Wes."

The hooded hunter made his way around to the large stage where some of his group were waiting. Viper and Emerald weren't there, as neither of them qualified for the contest due to their matching costumes, but Snow and Amethyst were missing as well.

"There was a guy who dressed up really similarly to Snow, and there were a bunch of people who had different versions of Ammy's suit," Sapphire explained. "So it looks like we four are the only ones who made it in."

"You mean apart from the other forty-six people here?"

"Well, um, yeah."

Glancing around, Wes caught sight of a few noticeable outfits in the crowd behind the stage. The first one he saw wore an outfit consisting of a red longcoat, a white wig, and an enormous claymore with a skull emblazoned on the handguard. Another two hunters had somewhat similar outfits: the first with a blue and white outfit, though his right arm was noticeable uncovered. A white cape hung across his back, and a gold-handled sword with a red sheath and a hole in the handguard was sheathed at the back of his waist, while a blue wig covered his head. The second was dressed quite similarly to him, but her outfit was entirely blue, though with some red accents as well. Her cape had red lining on the interior, and she had a golden tiara on top of her long blue wig. She carried the same kind of sword as the first hunter did. Aside from them, there was a man wearing an old looking suit of iron armor with two downwards pointed horns on either side of his head, a spiky blonde-haired guy with an orange and black jumpsuit, someone with an orange gi and blue boots with incredibly spiky gold hair, a short kid in a parka, a black-haired, black-coated guy with a light blue sword on his back, and many others as well. Wes has to admit, he was impressed by the sights, but he was mostly interested in the cool weapons most of them were carrying.

"Say, Ruby, exactly what is that big thing on your belt anyways?" he asked as his gaze fell to the red object. "Is that your weapon?"

"It just so happens to be," she replied, pulling the device free and flicking a small switch on the side, causing it to suddenly morph into an enormous scythe with a gleaming silver edge.

"Whoa, that's pretty awesome," Sapphire complimented, looking it over as the red-haired huntress lifted the scythe to show it off further. "Why's it have that little handle above the grip though?"

"It's also a gun," Ruby explained, pulling the lever back and releasing it with a very satisfying _chck_.

"Say, uh, Ruby, do you mind… _not _pointing that at my head?"

"Muh? Oh, I guess that just sorta happened. Woops."

"Ruby!"

"What?! I _said _it was an accident!"

"Hey, I think it's starting!"

The hunters glanced over in time to see the large curtain behind the stage being lifted, and the crowd of fifty began to file up the steps leading onto the stage. Wes, Frost, Sapphire, and Ruby followed along as well, taking their places beside each other and the rest of the group in front of the enormous crowd gathered around the stage. Wes saw his father and uncle sitting at a table on the edge of the stage, looking over each of the hunters. Wes nodded towards York as their gazes met, and his father smiled at him before continuing along with the rest of the contestants. He thought he heard Ruby let out a short huff to his side, but he didn't inquire as to what could be bothering her.

After the last of the hunters got into place, Hugh got to his feet and went to the middle of the stage, taking hold of the microphone standing in the spotlight and removing it from its pedestal.

"Helloooooo, people of Loc Lac!" he roared into the mic, causing the crowd to erupt into cheers and loud whistles of excitement. "Alright, quiet down now, all of ya! We _do _wanna get this show on the road, am I right? And man, do we have a show for you! We got fifty hunters, every single one of 'em in a different, one-of-a-kind outfit made by different craftsmen around the city, ready to show their stuff and prove why they're the one to take home that big ass trophy by my friend over there!"

Hugh pointed across the stage towards York, who lifted the shiny golden cup up above his head for all to see. The one-eyed man set the trophy down after a moment and got to his feet as well, stepping towards Hugh and taking the mic from him.

"Now, we've been debating a couple different ways for this all to go down tonight," York said. "After almost five whole minutes, we finally settled on the ultimate challenge for our contestants here! In order to walk home with this year's prize of not only the trophy, but two million zenni, our hunters here… will have to scale the walls of the Loc Lac tower itself!"

The crowd erupted into a storm of cheers and applause at that, though Wes couldn't help but feel like half of it was from pure disbelief at something so insanely dangerous. The tower was hundreds of yards tall! A single misstep could actually kill someone! He even heard a few nervous gulps from a few of the other members of the contest around him.

As the crowd settled down, though, York handed the microphone back over to Hugh, and the sandy-blonde haired hunter spoke up once again.

"At least, we _would _have them do that, but unfortunately those pansies at the Guild said it was too dangerous, so we had to resort to plan B: a foot race around the entirety of the oasis!"

The cheers this time were about as loud as the first one, though instead of disbelief, Wes heard more cries of relief and joy at something that wouldn't end with someone accidentally becoming a bloody paste on the ground somewhere.

"Now, I personally wanted to do a strength contest in the spirit of last year, but we all know that I'd win that, so we had to settle for something a little more fair-"

"That's enough gloating, big shot," York remarked, snatching the mic back from the man. "Always with this guy… So, the rules are that our hunters will run two laps around the oasis. No tools outside of the ones on their person are available for use in the race. So, yes, you can indeed hit each other. Wouldn't be a real contest without some legal forms of cheating allowed. First one to make it back- or the last one standing, for that matter- wins the contest!"

"Jeez, it just sounds like we're supposed to kick the crap out of each other. What the hell was Pa thinking when he came up with these rules?"

"Probably just that," Ruby said with a rather dry tone.

"What am I supposed to do then?! My only weapon is a book, for cryin' out loud! You have a ginormous rifle-scythe!"

"I guess that means you'll be running while the rest of us fight it out then."

"I… probably won't be sticking around for that mosh pit," Wes laughed nervously. "A sword and a wrist blade don't quite stack up to the other things these people will be swinging around. What about you, Frost?"

As the hunter glanced over, though, he saw that the white-haired hunter already had a hand on the hilt of his sword, which served as good of an answer as any spoken reply would have.

"Now then, if we could get the crowds to clear a space for the hunters to line up at, we can get this death pi- er, _race _started up!" Hugh shouted. It took a few minutes, but eventually the crowd was able to shift over enough for the hunters to line up in rows of ten for the race. Wes considered himself lucky to have gotten a spot in the front of the crowd, though he was also mindful of the fact that Ruby was directly behind him, and would be more than willing to barrel through him in a moment's notice.

Before the race could begin, though, there were a few shouts from the stage itself, causing the hunters to turn back around. As he looked, Wes caught sight of a number of black-furred Felynes, all of them wearing different costumes and wielding different clubs and bludgeons rushing around the stage, yowling and swinging their weapons around like crazy. Wes thought he saw everything from mini Yian Kut-Kus to Bullfangos to small black-cloaked ghouls to tiny green-bodied monsters running about just causing chaos. A number of them had tackled Hugh to the floor and were trying to keep him pinned down while another group had surrounded York, who was unable to try and fight through them due to his severe allergic reaction to Felynes. A duo of the cat-like creatures rushed onto the table and took hold of the prize trophy, bounding off the stage and into the crowds of confused onlookers. No one even attempted to stop them; in fact, the people were eating it up, laughing their heads off like it was some kind of comedy routine.

"Hey! Stop those- atchoo!- Stop those cats! New rules, new con- atchoo!- new contest! First one to get those bas- atchoo!- those cats is the winner! Gods, someone else get up here and deal with these fu- atchoo!- with these damn Melynx already!"

At once, the crowd of hunters surged in the direction the cat-like creatures had raced off. Several of the people within, seemingly those that were excited about the 'any tools available' part of the rules, drew their blunted weapons and armaments and began swinging wildly in any direction around them, knocking several hunters flat before they even got moving. Wes found himself now at the back of the crowd, with no way forwards except into the massive, slow moving crowd of hunters that was quickly turning into a free for all.

Deciding it would be better to play it safe, the hunter broke away from the group and raced towards the buildings off to the side and scaling up to the rooftops, much to the surprise of the people standing nearby. He glanced back at the group behind him; they had barely even moved a few feet, and most everyone inside was too busy trying to beat the hell out of each other to care about the trophy. He thought he saw Ruby's massive scythe appear, and several people getting sent flying through the air, though he couldn't quite make out where Frost had gotten off to in that mess. After seeing another poor sap get sent flying from a different spot than Ruby had been, though, Wes didn't doubt Frost was doing just fine in there.

"Whew, that's a real mess, isn't it?"

"Wagh?! Sapphire?!" Wes jumped in surprise, glancing to the side where the blue-haired huntress was standing. "When did you get up here?!"

"I followed you! You think I'd last ten seconds in there with a big book to defend myself with, and no armor? I'd rather follow your lead and get out of the way! Did… you think I followed you for a different reason?"

"No, that's not- nevermind!" he stuttered. "Well, with all of them busy beating the shit out of each other, that should leave us more time to go find those Melynx. Want to team up?"

"Sure! But it _is _still a competition, remember? What do we do once we get the trophy?"

"Er… I actually can't get close to them, now that I think about it… Say we split the prize money, and you can keep the trophy? I can just get a ribbon or something later and pretend like it's important."

"Fair enough! Alright, let's go! We've got some cats to track down! …Say, do you think we could stop at a few houses for some sweets? I've always wanted to go trick-or-treating!"

"I was just going to ask that! I heard one of those kids say a house on Jhen Avenue was stocked with candied apples, so-"

"Really? What are we doing standing on a roof then?! C'mon!"

"H-hey, wait up, Saph! That's not where the Melynx ran off to! What about the contest?!"

"Screw that, I want candy now!"

"…Well alright then. Right behind you," he chuckled before racing after the huntress, the sounds of the chaotic festival falling far behind as he moved ahead into the dimly-lit night.

* * *

_Master Corps Employee Dossier #2_

Trance Perditus

Hair: Dark Brown, short and scruffy

Eyes: Hazel

Height: 5 ft 10 in

Weight: 162 lbs

Age: 23-24

Favorite Color: Beige

Weapon of Choice: Guild Rapier, Crowbar

Most Noticeable Trait: Average-ness

A recent graduate from the Guild Academy in Loc Lac, Trance essentially fills the role of Balestra's right hand man. Despite graduating his class with a C-average, his incredible work ethic and drive to improve helped impress Balestra enough (if 'impress' is the right word) to earn him a position in the Corps. Between his work for the Corps and the Guild, Trance is usually seen running back and forth between the Loc Lac Tower and the Corps HQ, something that people in between often tell the day of the week by. While lacking in book smarts, Trance is an exceptional swordsmen who reportedly sweeped the most recent fencing competition in Loc Lac, and has remained the title holder for two and a half years. Is the older brother of Aquila, one of the hunters York has been training. Supposedly believes in extraterrestrial life forms, but scoffs at the idea of ghosts.

The most likely to experience technical difficulties.

* * *

_Master Corps Employee Dossier #3_

Corrin Depalo

Hair: Black, medium length

Eyes: Green

Height: 5 ft 4 in

Weight: 152 lbs

Age: 23-24

Favorite Color: Khaki/ Tan

Weapon of Choice: Guild Rapier, Cat toys (to ward off Felynes)

Most Noticeable Trait: Unluckiness

The second highest ranking officer in the Master Corps, Corrin is Trance's best friend and Balestra's left hand man. Acts mostly as an overseer in place of Lyle, who is often slacking off on his responsibilities. Is often seen talking to Trance about anything that comes up, and constantly pokes fun at Trance's single status. Despite this, he doesn't quite know how to feel about his current relationship, as his significant other is a Felyne lover, while the same species seems to carry an indescribable hatred towards him. Has a prosthetic right hand as a result of a poorly-conducted experiment in the Science Department, which he keeps covered by a glove constantly, even when washing his hands. Supposedly believes in ghosts, but denounces the existence of aliens.

The most likely to throw a shoe at a singing Felyne in the middle of the night.

* * *

**Author Notes: Please Review! Happy Halloween, my faithful readers! I figured that since it's the season of dressing up in unique costumes, I might as well portray a few of my characters partaking in the same for my first non-canonical Supplementary Chapter! Essentially, the non-canonical chapters take place in an alternate timeline/universe with slight variations on the character's personalities, hence why Frost was willing to leave his room without his helmet on. I have a few others planned as well; if people enjoy the Halloween chapter enough, maybe I'll even do a few other holiday themed chapters too! I'd been mulling the idea over since last year, so if I run out of ideas, maybe those'll pop up!**

**Also, side note: the dossiers are canonical.**

**Now then, just in case you were wondering, I have a list of the costumes each character had on in this chapter! Most of them are available in different MH games as DLC gear, but Gecko mentioned that a few of the ones that aren't were a little obscure during the editing process. So on top of the necessary specifications, I thought that just telling you what they were could work out too. They are, as follows:**

**Wes: Ezio Auditore from Assassin's Creed II (I found the perfect nickname for this one; Weszio Adlertore. Get it?)**

**Viper: Link from The Legend of Zelda **

**Snow: Female Robin from Fire Emblem: Awakening and Super Smash Bros. 4**

**Frost: Raiden from Metal Gear Rising: Revengeance**

**Ruby: Ruby Rose from RWBY (also her namesake, so double points)**

**Sapphire: Lana from Hyrule Warriors**

**Amethyst: Samus Aran's Power Suit from Metroid**

**Emerald: Also Link (since almost everyone already has that set in 4U, it made sense to reference)**

**York: Big Boss from Metal Gear Solid 3**

**Hugh: Ryu from Street Fighter**

**Other outfits that appear are Dante from the Devil May Cry series, Lucina and Chrom from FE: Awakening, Dovahkiin from Skyrim, Naruto from, well, you know, Goku from Dragonball, Kenny from South Park, and Kirito from Sword Art Online (only because of popularity; I personally dislike the series a lot).**

**So, now for my Halloween plans; dressing up as Robin and tipping the scales wherever I go! Happy Halloween, my friends, and remember to review and follow as always! **


	7. The Other Me

The Master Corps: Supplementary Chapters

**_Disclaimer: I do not own Monster Hunter. The game belongs entirely to Capcom. All characters that appear in this story belong to me, unless otherwise stated._**

**Edited by: dashboardgecko**

**This chapter is Canonical with TMC**

* * *

SC7- The Other Me

"Here's to another successful hunt!" Viper cheered, knocking his flagon against those of his teammates with a short splash of ale. The four were currently sitting inside the Tusk-Horn Tavern, surrounded by even more rowdy hunters congratulating each other over successful hunts, many of which were currently being retold to the others at their tables. "That Plesioth didn't know what hit it!"

"Still, sorry we couldn't be more help out there," Snow said after taking a quick swig of her drink. "Frost and I don't have as much experience with underwater fighting, so we didn't want to get caught outside our element."

"Wasn't that big of a deal in the end, so don't worry about it. Wes and I made sashimi out of the thing when it took a dive anyways. I never realized you were that quick underwater, man."

"I live in a village built on top of the ocean, Viper," Wes replied, pretending to take a sip from his own drink before setting it down beside him. "One of my old training routines involved swimming into the caverns beneath the island. Left me tired as hell, but it had its benefits. Like dodging giant monster fish, for instance."

"Overgrow didn't have as many caves or whatever beneath the water, but we had a big ol' river running right through town. Had a fairly strong current, so that's where I did all of my swim practice. Still, I guess it is kind of surprising you two don't have much experience fighting underwater," the archer continued, motioning towards Frost and Snow. "Didn't really leave the Tundra all that often, did ya?"

"Not really, no," the huntress replied, while Frost merely shrugged. "It just felt more natural to hunt around the area we lived in, I guess. So, we might not be that great underwater, but fighting on glacial flows and ice shelves? I think we've got you two beat there!"

"Touché. Good thing none of us got hurt this time around though, huh? It's been awhile since we could go out to a celebratory meal!"

The masked hunter across from him let out a long and low grunt, almost like a mix between a growl and a sigh, earning the gaze from both Wes and Viper.

"Er… What's his problem?" the dual blade wielder asked.

"Oh, he's just upset about getting hit by that one hipcheck it did," Snow replied. "It's weird though… He was on the other side of its body, but he still got hit. And come to think of it, didn't Wes get hit by its tail swipe too?"

"I'm still calling bullcrap on that. That thing's tail was a solid four feet above my head, but it still felt like I got smashed in the face by the actual thing."

"I guess Plesioths usually get on people's nerves then?" the sword wielder commented, glancing between her brother and Wes, both of whom were now silently fuming in their seats.

"Like you wouldn't believe," Viper chuckled. "Supposedly they don't follow the same rules as most other monsters do, especially when on land. I remember hearing some stories from older hunters who got hit by Plesioth hipcheck from almost thirty yards away! Its body never even came close!"

"How's that even possible?"

"Some Guild researchers once came forward with a theory about invisible scale-spikes or something, but that's never been proven," Wes sighed. "To this day, most books you see about them are about fifty percent ecology, thirty percent hunting tactics, and twenty percent hipchecks. There's a reason I do my best to avoid the things."

"Most other hunters tend to as well," Viper added. "In fact, hunters despise fighting Plesioth so much that the Guild has actually devoted resources into an anti-Plesioth fishing harpoon. It's kinda like a ballista, except it shoots a net that is specifically designed to kill a Plesioth in one shot. No clue how they're doing it, but apparently there's been a lot of support for it."

"Wait, if they can make a net that's capable of killing a giant fish in one shot, why don't they make something that can do the same to elder dragons or wyverns?" Snow asked, frowning and raising an eyebrow. "Wouldn't that be better defense for towns or something?"

"Plesioths are just _that _annoying, Snow," the blue- and green-eyed hunter stated, again pretending to take a sip out of his flagon while secretly hoping the others wouldn't notice the level of the drink inside wasn't dropping. Unfortunately for him, though, Viper seemed to have caught on already.

"Ain'tcha actually going to drink that, bud?"

"Muh? Oh, this? The Master Cola? I am drinking it."

"No, you aren't. You're just putting it to your mouth and taking it away."

"I just like to take short sips is all."

"But you aren't even sipping it! At best you're just blowing on it lightly! C'mon, I didn't pay for an entire round just for you to chicken out and not drink any of it!"

"You knew full well that I don't drink alcohol normally!" Wes stated after a moment.

"He's got a point there, Viper."

"Snow, do not take his side on this. In fact, I'm kinda curious about now: why _don't _you drink, Wes?"

"Er… that's not a real big concern."

"You aren't one of those weirdos who think that it causes almost every illness in existence, are you?"

"No, not at all! Only thing ale can do is give you a hangover or a stomach ache. Or liver failure."

"Not a fan of the taste then?"

"Well, not particularly, but I don't mind the flavor of the non-alcoholic kinds."

"Hmm… If it ain't those two… Ah hah! Family history, isn't it?"

"Irk… I mean, uh, nope. Guess again."

"Now I gotcha," Viper smirked. "C'mon, tell your friends what the problem is. Alcoholism ain't that big of a problem that you can't tell your buddies about it, right?"

"Drinking problems are kind of a big deal, Viper…"

"Snow, please! I'm trying to get to the bottom of this!"

"Sorry Wes, I tried."

"No one in my family has ever had an actual drinking problem," Wes sighed, resting his forehead in his hand. "My ma just has a really, really low tolerance to alcohol that sort of runs through her side of the family. I'm just concerned that's one of the things I inherited."

"So, you've never had a drop of alcohol in your life then?"

"After hearing more than a dozen stories from my pa about him having to carry her back home after a single sip? No, I haven't."

"Damn, you need to learn to live a little, Wes! Just because there's a _chance _you could pass out and make an utter fool out of yourself doesn't mean you should just completely cut yourself off from something, right?"

"…It kinda does, actually."

"Gods, you really are hard-headed about this junk… Alright, let's make a deal. You actually finish that tankard, and I'll pay for the next meal. Fair enough?"

"No offense, but food isn't a good incentive for me to do stuff, Viper. It might work on you, but my interests lie elsew-"

"He'll buy you a new pair of swords!" Snow blurted out, earning a shocked look from the hunter.

"Snow, how could you?!"

"Ah, right, you're into weapons," Viper mused, rubbing his chin thoughtfully as Wes stared accusingly at the huntress, who was waving her hands before her and laughing. "Alright, it'll definitely leave a dent in my wallet, but I think it'll be worth it. One pair of swords for one tankard of ale seems like more than a decent trade, doesn't it?"

"Irk… You aren't going to give up on this, are you?"

"Nope! So, we gotta deal?"

The blue- and green-eyed hunter sighed and looked aside for a moment before hanging his head in resignation. "Alright, fine. But I swear, if I'm about to do something stupid and none of you try to do anything to stop it, I'm putting Aptonoth dung in your next meal."

With the others staring intently at him, Wes slowly lifted the tankard to his mouth, hesitating a moment and glancing around at Snow and Viper's eager expressions, while Frost simply stared at his plate of food through his helmet. Wes looked at the dark brown liquid in the tankard, rippling slightly from his breath, before closing his eyes and tilting the flagon back, downing a mouthful of the ale as fast as he could. It burned slightly going down his throat, and tasted incredibly bitter, but it wasn't particularly bad. Still, something felt kind of off to him...

"Haha! See? It ain't that bad, right?" Viper cheered, patting his shoulder roughly as he set the tankard down. "So, c'mon, tell us what you thought!"

"It… It was…"

"It was what?! Don't leave us on the edge of our-"

_Thump!_

"…seats."

"…Uhm… Viper, I think he-"

"Oh yeah, he definitely passed out. Guess he wasn't kidding earlier, huh?"

* * *

_Wes._

…

_Hey, Wes._

…

_WES. WEEEEEEEESSSSSSS. You still conscious? _

…

_Well, isn't that just great. He's completely out of it. Funny part is, he ain't even drunk... Well, I guess I could always take over for him… Plus, having an actual body to screw around in would be awesome! Oh man, I can't wait!_

* * *

"I guess we should get him back to HQ then," Snow sighed. "Frost, do you mind staying at the table to get the leftovers? I'll leave money to pay."

Frost nodded and grunted in reply while Snow effortlessly hoisted the unconscious dual blade wielder over her shoulder, and she and Viper both left some zenni on the table before leaving the tavern. While they got a few odd looks and jokes thrown their way at the unconscious hunter's expense, they had relatively little trouble making their way out onto the moonlit street.

"You sure you don't want me to carry him?" Viper asked.

"No worries, I got him, Viper. He isn't that heavy. Now, let's get a move on so we can-"

The huntress felt her arm jostle slightly, startling her into looking at Wes just as he kicked his legs downwards. She dropped him in surprise, though he landed deftly in a crouch, chuckling slightly as he did.

"Wes? You awake already?" Viper asked. "You went out like a light, so I thought you were gonna be out of it for a while. But what was with the whole 'flipping out' thing just now? You coulda just asked her to set you down."

"Yeah, but where's the fun in that?" the dual blade wielder replied with an almost oddly cheerful tone. He didn't sound drunk, but that was a tone he'd never really used before…

"Er… Well, can you walk back to HQ on your own then?"

"Easy as pie! Walking isn't that hard after all! I've been doing it all my life!"

_Well, he seems drunk at least… _Viper thought, raising an eyebrow at the hunter as Wes got to his feet with a cheery grin.

"But first, there's one thing I need to check out."

Any thought going through Viper's head came to a complete stop as the dual blade wielder suddenly reached out and grasped Snow's chest with one of his hands. Snow froze in complete shock at Wes' sudden action, only blinking once in surprise as though she could barely registered what he had just done. Meanwhile, Wes simply stood there with his hand firmly planted on her bosom, squeezing once or twice as if trying to get a feel for it.

"Hmm… Interesting. Alright, thanks a lot! See you two around!"

With that, the hunter released his hold on Snow and turned around, racing off down the street while the others simply stood in complete shock. Wes had _never _done anything like that before, and even if he had tried to, he'd be too embarrassed to pull it off! Viper couldn't even wrap his mind around what had just happened. Exactly what did his making Wes drink that ale actually do to the hunter?

"What… just happened?" Snow asked after almost half a minute of silence. "He seemed so… Was that… Is this how he acts when he's drunk? I can't even… _What?"_

"You took the words right out of my mouth… Wait a minute! If he did that to you while he was drunk, what's keeping him from doing that to every other woman he meets?! And we just let him run off into the night!"

"Oh gods, you're right! We need to catch up to him!"

"He went that way! Come on, before he does something else incredibly stupid!"

* * *

"Woohoo!" Silver shouted as he was pulled up to the rooftops by the rope he had just cut. He felt so alive! Being stuck inside Wes' consciousness was almost stifling, and Wes always seemed to take being in control of their body for granted, but Silver never had that luxury before. Now that he was actually in control, he had to make sure he enjoyed every second of it.

"So, item number one on the bucket list has been accomplished," he remarked, mentally checking off the first of his goals while in control of Wes' body. "I never thought they were _that _plush. Kinda firm, but man would those make good pillows! This idiot doesn't know what he's missing out on, being all awkward and shit. Okay, let's see… Number two is epic free running across the city, and that can lead me straight into number three: first kiss! Man, this is gonna be great!"

With that, Silver took off running across the buildings towards the Master Corps HQ, vaulting over chimneys and other obstructions in his path and leaping between gaps between the houses. Occasionally he'd cross over the streets below via lengths of rope draw taught between the stone buildings, or he'd just catch the sides of them and climb up instead. The entire time, he was grinning wildly; he felt so free! How could he not have the time of his life doing these things in reality for once? Sharing Wes' skills just made it all the better, as he could race along the rooftops to his heart's content.

After about ten minutes of running around, he came to a stop on top of the wall surrounding the Corps district, having climbed the exterior façade instead of taking the gate. It was almost a fifty foot drop to the ground below, but he didn't mind at all. He could just catch the side of the HQ itself and climb down from there. He sat perched up there for a few moments, scanning the small space behind the building. Sure enough, he saw a small figure wearing fluffy white armor appear from around the corner after a couple minutes, causing him to smirk slightly.

"Wes would kill me if he knew I was going to do this. Well, he could try at least, heheh."

The man leapt from the wall, hearing the wind whistle past his ears as he fell before catching the bottom of a window to halt his descent. Silver carefully began making his way down the side of the building, leaping down a few feet at a time and catching uneven bricks or window sills to use as hand and footholds. It took about half a minute for him to descend from the building, and he stopped one floor up from ground level, watching the huntress below take a few practice swings with her blue-bladed short sword.

"Alleyoop!"

Silver pushed himself off the side of the HQ, falling towards the ground rapidly and landing beside the huntress with a roll, causing her to yelp in shock at his sudden appearance.

"W-W-Wes?! W-where did you come from?!" Sapphire exclaimed, bringing her shield up to hide a part of her face from him. "How did you know I practice behind the building at night?!"

"To answer that first one, I came from up there," Silver replied, pointing a finger towards the starry sky. "As for the second one, let's just say I've noticed a few more things, eh?"

"What do you mean by that…?"

"Aw c'mon, you think I haven't noticed you working your ass off to improve the last few weeks?" he asked with a casual smile, walking around to her side. "I've even watched a couple times! I gotta say, I'm impressed, Saph."

"R-really?" she replied, a look of bewilderment crossing her face. A moment later she shook her head and lowered her shield. "I mean… Uhm… Why were you watching me practice?! It's supposed to be secret training!"

"Hey, no need to raise your pretty little voice now! If anything, I find it kinda cute. The whole secretive practice thing? It really suits you."

"It… suits me?"

"You bet it does! It really fits for a cute girl like you!" he laughed. "And I happen to like cute, so it all works out, y'know?"

"You… think I'm cute? Waitwaitwait, you… did you say you like cute? And if I'm cute… Does that mean… a-am I dreaming? D-did Ammy put t-too many exciteshrooms in our tea again?"

"I wouldn't know about that, but things seem pretty real to me. I don't think you're dreaming either, so that can only mean that this is actually happening," he said, leaning in close and causing her to back up a step with wide eyes.

"Eep! W-wait, this is really sudden and I like it but I don't know if I do and it's weird and now I'm all flustered and lightheaded all a sudden!" she said, her face flushed a bright red in embarrassment. "W-why are you acting like this? It isn't like you, Wes! You're supposed to be all awkwardly charming and stuff, not super sexy and cool sounding! Ack, what am I saying?!"

"Heheh, you're even cuter when you get all flustered," Silver chuckled, smiling warmly at her and leaning in closer to the point their lips were only a few inches apart. "And like I said, I happen to like that."

Before he could lean in for the kiss, though, he heard two pairs of footsteps round the corner, causing him and Sapphire both to look to the side in surprise as two figures came into view.

"Ah hah! I thought I heard him back here!" Snow said, pointing a finger at Silver. "That's far enough, Wes!"

"Mercy… How the hell... could you even hear him... over all this?" Viper panted, resting his hands on his knees as he caught his breath. "He's been running all over the damn city... and you still managed to track him back here? I need ears like that…"

"Irk… These two, always spoiling the fun..." Silver pouted, glancing over his shoulder at the other end of the alley. He wasn't quite ready to give up control of the hunter's body yet. He still had a night of fun planned out, after all! "Sorry Saph, but looks like we'll have to hold off for the moment. But here's a parting gift," he said, giving her a light peck on the cheek before racing off towards his escape route.

* * *

"Ah come on, not again!" Viper moaned as Snow took off after the dual blade wielder. The huntress noticed Saph practically crumple to the ground in embarrassment, her face redder than anything she'd ever seen before.

"Viper, make sure she's okay! I'll catch up with him!" the white-haired huntress called.

"Ah… Alright, stay here and chill… I can do that…! Man, I'm never taking you people out for drinks again…"

Rounding the corner as quickly as she could, Snow continued chasing after the blonde-haired hunter, intent on bringing him to a stop. Whatever he had just done to Sapphire was clearly fueled by his alcohol-induced persona, and they'd have to clear things up with her once they got him settled down, but still… the fact that he was functioning well enough to climb the sides of buildings and run this quickly made her think this wasn't entirely the ale's fault. She could stop him easily with her ice powers, but she wasn't exactly sure who else would be watching this go down and didn't want to risk the trouble that would bring. Besides, she was faster than him; it was only a matter of time before she caught up with him.

This still proved far more difficult than she first assumed, though. Wes' reactions were on point; he was able to dart away from her in the blink of an eye, dodge almost every attempt she made to grab onto him, even outmaneuver her once with the training yard's sand pit… If anything, he seemed even _more _capable after that drink than he had before! She was baffled by it, and the fact that he didn't seem to be tiring at all. Viper was left out of breath just after about twenty minutes of sprinting, but Wes was climbing buildings and dodging her attempts to capture him on top of that! Where was all this stamina coming from?

"Wup! Gonna have to try harder than that, Snow!" he laughed, ducking out of the way just as she attempted to wrap her arms around him. He hadn't even glanced back and he knew what she was about to do! "C'mon, catch me if you can!"

"Grr… That's it! Get over here, you!"

"Why don'tcha make me?!"

"Geez, quit moving around so much!"

"Did you want to practice a little first?"

"Almost…! Dammit!"

"Whoopsies! Need me to slow down a little?"

"I am going to hit you so hard, Wes!"

"Your chances of that are way smaller than your boobs!"

"Stop moving already!"

"Sorry, too much fun! Try calling back later!"

"What does that even mean?!"

After almost fifteen minutes of chasing the hunter around, Snow began to feel herself tiring out. Despite all of this, Wes was _still _moving around as if it were nothing! Had he slipped a dash juice or something? Even with her Hybrid strength and endurance she was being out-performed! She could only watch as he mockingly made a break for the gate leading into the city proper once again; if he got out into Loc Lac again, there was no telling what he'd get up to! But she couldn't stop him now…

"C'mon, is that all you got, Snow?!" he shouted back to her, turning around to look at her while continuing towards the gate. "If you can't stop me, no one can! I'll catch ya later!"

As she continued to watch the dual blade wielder backpedal towards the gate, though, she caught a slight glimpse of a white coat around the corner of the entrance to the district, causing her to smirk in realization.

"Maybe I can't catch you…"

Wes began to turn back around just as he reached the gate, though his gaze lingered on her for a moment longer. What he neglected to realize was the figure of Frost stepping out from around the corner and swinging his arm towards the hunter's head, which Wes only caught a glimpse of as he finished turning around. Not even his reaction speed was enough to allow him to dodge the masked man's swing, and the middle of Frost's arm collided hard enough with Wes' forehead that the blonde-haired hunter actually flipped once in midair before slamming face first into the ground below, almost five yards behind where Frost stood.

"…but my brother can!" she proclaimed, pushing herself up and making her way over to the downed hunter. She patted her brother on the shoulder as she passed. "Thanks for the assist, Frost."

"No problem."

The pair came to a stop next to Wes, who was still lying facedown and made no attempt to move himself either. The huntress knelt down and pushed him over onto his back to make sure he wasn't too badly injured, but fortunately it seemed like the worst of it was a large red mark on his forehead. It didn't look like any of the armor plates struck him, so chances were it was only Frost's arm that did any damage, and fortunately he held back enough to not outright kill the hunter. A minor concussion would be the worst of it, hopefully.

"Uuuuugh…"

"Still awake, huh? You done romping around Loc Lac now, Wes? Had your fill?"

"I… regret none of it…" he replied, before letting out a sigh and falling unconscious.

* * *

_Damn… Guess I got a little too cocky at the end there, huh? Ah well, it was fun while it lasted._

_Uhn… Huh…? What was fun…?_

_Oh, great, you're back! Man, you will not believe the things you've been up to, Wes!_

* * *

"Okay, so this is completely not my fault, alright?" Viper said after Snow shut the door to Wes' room, having tossed the unconscious hunter onto the bed within. "I only offered to buy the drinks, nothing more!"

"You said you'd buy him swords as an incentive!"

"No, you said that! I just went along with it! You're just as guilty of that as I am!"

"…Let's just agree to never speak of this again, alright?"

"Deal. But… I gotta say, Drunk Wes is actually kinda cool. I mean, aside from the whole 'randomly groping you in the middle of the street' thing, that is…"

"Viper, 'never again' started already."

"Right, right… Lucky bastard..."

"What was that last part?"

"Nothing!"

* * *

Miscellaneous Character Dossier #1

Silver

Hair: Medium-long, silver

Eyes: Right eye blue, left eye green

Height: 6 ft

Weight: 165 lbs

Age: 19

Favorite Color: Blue/ Navy

Weapon of Choice: Sharp Tongue

Most Notable Trait: Being Silver

A peculiar entity that took up residence within Wes' mind after the young hunter was left unconscious from a failed hunt, Silver says he's an extension of Wes' own mind. He also says he's Wes' conscious, his common sense, his reason, and his sex drive. Silver says he's a lot of things, but not all of it is very clear. Then again, his own existence isn't very clear, considering he was brought about by a nasty bump to the head. Based on known intel (who the hell is even writing this thing?) Silver acts as a sort of 'mission control' for Wes during hunts, supplying him with information about his targets and suggesting moves that would be most beneficial to both him and the rest of the team. He's also able to foresee incoming attacks, and by warning Wes of what he expects his enemy to do, the hunter can effectively evade almost any strike coming his way. Or, he could, if Silver's guesses were perfect; he admits that there's about a 30% chance of a wrong guess. Apart from acting as Wes' assistant in battle, Silver can also momentarily take control of Wes' body should the hunter's half of their mind (because apparently that's a thing) is rendered incapacitated. Exactly how those circumstances can be brought about is up in the air, but when Silver is in control, he can push Wes' body beyond the limits it already has, running faster, jumping farther, and striking harder. Unfortunately, this has a negative effect on Wes afterwards when he regains control, as his body isn't meant to perform under stress that intensive. Supposedly spends his time off playing "Demon Might Care" and "Supreme Smasher Siblings" on a strange device deep inside of Wes' mind, which also leads to some peculiar dreams for the hunter when he sleeps.

The most likely to not actually exist.

* * *

**Author Notes: Please review! Man, I've been looking forward to a supplementary chapter focusing on Silver ever since I came up with the idea for these things. With a character as strangely diverse as him, how could I not? I should point out that a lot of the things that happened here are actually relevant to the main story of The Master Corps, so aside from the comedic aspects it brought on, this was also a preview into what Silver is capable of doing! Ah, and one other note; this chapter takes place during a timeskip that happens after the next few chapters in the main story. I'd love to wait and post this once those are out there, but I'll be honest here, that wouldn't be for a while. After all, finals are coming up soon and I'm busy enough with other projects that writing TMC is starting to become more of a luxury... But I can also blame Monster Hunter for that. On the plus side, I got most of my old armor back, and I'm almost back into the G-special permit range! It won't be long now! Anyways, make sure to review and follow if you aren't already doing so, and I'll see you next time, my faithful reader!**


	8. Taste Test

The Master Corps: Supplementary Chapters

**Disclaimer: I do not own Monster Hunter. The game belongs entirely to Capcom. All characters that appear in this story belong to me, unless otherwise stated.**

**Edited by: dashboardgecko**

**This chapter is Canonical with TMC**

* * *

SC 8: Taste Test

"Oh, who'd have thought! What's happening, Snow?"

"Viper?" the shortsword wielder asked, turning away from the stove, and the pot of stew in front of her to look at him. "What are you doing in here?"

"I thought I smelled something coming from here when I was up in my room a minute ago, so I decided to check out what was cooking."

"Your room? That's… Wait, you smelled food cooking six floors below you?"

"Well, yeah. It's not the first time. Hell, a couple weeks back I was in Wes' room when I smelled something coming from here, and it turned out to be Kat that time. Man, the food they make in Minegarde is something else…"

"Gods, your nose might just be as good as mine…"

"What was that?"

"Oh, uh, nothing!"

"You're really weird sometimes, you know that? Between you and that brother of yours… oh, who am I kidding, most of the time it's awesome," the archer chuckled, stepping over to where she stood and peering into the contents of the pot. "I never had you pegged as a chef though. What're you making here? Smells beefy."

"Actually, I'm… not that good of a cook," Snow admitted with a nervous laugh. "I don't really know why, but I just felt like learning how to make something aside from steak. So, I had Wes get me some recipes from his mom for me to try making. He was supposed to help test them out, but something came up. I think he mentioned the crotch of his armor being too tight or something…"

"Ugh, did he get fitted by Caedlyn too? Usually I don't have a problem with women being grabby, but she takes it _way_ too far… But hey, if Wes ain't here, why don't I take over for him as your taste tester? I'm pretty qualified, if I do say so myself!"

"That's because you'll eat just about anything. Still, I guess that does mean you have experience with this… Plus, Wes never said when he'd be back, so I guess I don't mind you trying my food."

Viper pumped his fist at his side before going to take a seat at the small table behind her. The room itself was actually rather hidden from most inhabitants of the Master Corps HQ. Hardly anyone actually made their own food, instead opting for the small discounts members got at some of the nearby taverns, and the door was fairly well hidden on top of that. The only way in was to enter the door on the right of the front desk- which typically only saw Guild representatives and liaisons- and walk most of the way down the hall, past a few other doors, before hanging a left. It was clearly put in as an afterthought.

As for the kitchen interior, it was very clean and homely, despite being incredibly simple. There was a large two-shelved oven with a four-paneled gas burning stove on top of it, with a small table space between it and the sink a few feet to the left. To the right was a number of cupboards and drawers which contained an assortment of other cooking utensils, most of which was in very good condition on account of being used so little. The floors around the stove were tiled with grey stone, while the area around the wooden table and chairs Viper was seated by had hardwood floors. The walls were bare, save for the occasional picture or pamphlet or warning posted here and there. There was also a large metal vent hanging from the ceiling above the stove, which was apparently used to catch smoke and fumes and move them safely outside.

Snow glanced over to the slip of paper Wes had given her some time before, nodding affirmatively that she was about done with the recipe. It just needed… some kind of spice made from hot pepper. She opened the drawer to her side and pulled out the small jar containing the red powdery substance and uncorked it, sprinkling the contents into the stew and mixing it in. The brown meaty broth took on a slightly red tint as she did so, and the strength of the hot pepper singed her nose slightly, but she supposed that was to be expected. The directions said that adding a 'dash' was the last step, so she took a ladle and poured some into a bowl, which she took over and set down in front of Viper.

"Ooh, looks pretty good Snow! What is it?" he asked, rubbing his hands together eagerly and picking up a spoon.

"It's Aptonoth beef stew with chopped vegetables and a few herbal spices added in."

"Ah, simple but satisfying! I can't wait. Well, time to dig in!"

The archer dipped the spoon into the bowl and lifted it to his lips about as fast as Snow had come to expect from the archer: three times as fast as the hungriest person you could ever see. He downed half a dozen spoonfuls before swallowing and letting out a short belch.

"Hoo! Not bad, not bad at all!"

"Are you just saying that because it's food, or do you mean it actually tastes good?" the huntress asked, raising an eyebrow at him. Viper shook his head quickly.

"Nah, I mean it! The flavors are pretty great! You could probably dice the vegetables a little smaller next time, and maybe you- urp- could…"

The huntress cocked her head slightly as a slightly concerned look crossed Viper's face, which had taken on a considerably red hue in the last few moments. His eyes seemed to be watering a bit too…

"Viper? You alright?"

"Quick question… What kind of spices did you put in this?" he asked with a very strained tone.

"Uh… A kind of mixed mushroom powder, some ground herbs, hot pepper spice-"

"How _much_ hot pepper spice?"

"…All of it? The directions just said to use-"

"_WATERRRRRRR!"_

* * *

"Okay, so before you put anything that might be questionable into the next dish, let me look it over first."

"I'm really sorry about that Viper… How's your mouth doing? I didn't think there was any food you couldn't handle."

"Oh, normally I can handle hot and spicy. Just not six times the necessary amount. But I'll admit, you didn't know how much a 'dash' actually was, so it's not really your fault," the archer sighed, taking another big gulp of water and setting the glass down. "So… what else do you got for me?"

"You… really want to try something else? Even after I just incinerated your taste buds?"

"Against my better judgement, yes. I'd be hard pressed to say no to free food."

"Well, just to be on the safe side, I'll pick something that doesn't use much spice then," she said, rifling through the small stack of recipes she had before turning back towards him. "And you're sure you're okay? I thought I saw flames coming out of your mouth at one point."

"I'm not surprised, considering you dumped an entire bottle of hot pepper spice into that stew. It was great up until that kicked in. Next time, just remember that a dash isn't a bottle's worth like it is with dash juice."

"Right… Oh, how about this one?" The huntress pulled one recipe from the stack, holding it up for both her and Viper to see. "Says it's a snakebee honey pastry."

"Something sweet? I can dig that. Doesn't look like it has any ingredients that can ruin my intestines either. Alright, let's see what you can do, Angel."

After a short while (and a rather large mess, as Snow was unaccustomed to working with dough), a dozen rolls were spaced out on a tray, and the huntress was sliding it into the incredibly-hot oven, wincing as the heat seared her arm slightly before she pulled back and closed the door, breathing a short sigh of relief as she did so. Barioths were naturally weak to fire, after all, and heat always gave her and her brother trouble. That was one of the weaknesses of being a Hybrid, it seemed. She just never thought something as simple as an oven could remind her of that fact.

Still, the pastries were all safely inside, and a sweet aroma was beginning to waft into the air. She could see Viper visibly licking his lips in anticipation, and she had to admit, she was looking forward to eating them too. Maybe she could even save one for Frost… if she managed to hide it from Viper quickly enough.

"Y'know, out of all the things I could've imagined you doing, baking pastries was not one of them," Viper mused. "Like, seeing how you fight out there on hunts? I can hardly believe that same woman is wearing an apron and wielding a spatula instead of a sword."

"That isn't a problem though, right? I love hunting and fighting, sure, but… well, trying to learn other things is important too! I can't _always _be focused on fighting monsters, after all. That would be… unhealthy, I guess."

"I can understand that. A long while back, one of the only things I could think about was delivering justice to my father's killer, y'know? It's part of the reason I got so good with the bow in the first place," he explained. "After a while, I realized that I was really starting to let that rule my thoughts, though. I woke up every day thinking 'I'm gonna put that son of a bitch in the ground', and I went to bed thinking 'Tomorrow, I'm gonna shoot that bastard straight in the heart'."

"I find that a little hard to believe. I've only seen you angry a couple times, and usually that was because of what happened at the Tower."

"This was a while before I joined up with the Master Corps, Angel. I tell ya, I was a real ray of sunshine back then," Viper continued with a heavy dose of sarcasm. "Grew my hair out long, had the whole 'brooding bad boy' thing down, started drinking loads of Fatty Tomato juice, all of that stuff. And hoo boy, did I have a temper! I actually decked someone for dropping a fish on my boot once. Knocked him clean off the dock and into the river twenty feet below."

"Just because of a fish? Sounds like you really did have a temper… If I might ask, how… did you deal with it?"

"Honestly, it was mostly chance. I just sat myself down in front of the mirror one day, and the guy I saw? I did _NOT _want to be him. So, it took some patience, and quite a bit of self-control, but I managed to curb my temper a lot. I realized that the day might come when I came face to face with my father's killer, and that I'd definitely be ready for it, but until that happened, I had to be sure I was living my life based around more than just revenge. Sure, I still have a few difficulties now and then, but that's only cuz I'm human. It takes time. Plus… I thought I looked kinda weird with long hair. Sorta like a villain, yeah? That's bad for first impressions."

"You say that, sure, but weren't you a little upset to learn that Wes had killed him instead of you?" she asked, glancing over at the oven to keep an eye on the sweet-smelling pastries within. The scent of the honey was filling the room by that point, and the sweet aroma was enough to make her stomach growl lightly. These were going to be _good._ "I mean, you had been waiting years for that chance, right?"

"Would I have preferred to have put an arrow shaft between his eye sockets myself? Sure, you got me there," Viper admitted with a shrug. "But I was just happy to know that in the end, he got what was coming to him. I wasn't going to get bent out of shape because Wes 'stole my kill' or something dumb like that."

"Wow. I have to admit, I'm a little impressed by that, Viper," Snow said. "And… thanks for the tips, by the way."

"Tips? What tips?"

"Oh, don't worry about it," she smirked, winking quickly at him when he gave her a confused look.

"Uhh… okay then, you're welcome. Hey, do you hear that?"

"Do I hear- wait, yeah, I do. What is that?"

She hadn't noticed before, since she was so concentrated on her conversation with the archer, but a low hissing noise had filled the room. It was sort of like the noise a kettle made when steam was blowing out of it, except much fainter… There was something else, too. It was hard to tell because of the sweet scent of honey, but there was another, more pungent odor in the air too. Almost like…

"Uh oh."

"GETOUTGETOUTGETOUTGETOUT!"

* * *

"Gods above! I take back what I said before, never step into a kitchen again!"

Viper and Snow had barely made it out the door before an explosion rocked the kitchen. It was a good thing that the walls of the building were reinforced, or else they might have actually done some serious damage. Based on the number of people hurrying outside, chances were the whole building felt it too…

"How was I supposed to know the oven would blow up?!"

"Was it a Bolorov?"

"A Bolo-what?"

"The model of the oven. Was it made by the Bolorov company or the Ichabod company? It should have had a little sigil or a brand or something on it that read one of those names."

"I think I saw one that said Bolorov, but I didn't think it was important…"

The archer let out a short sigh and rubbed his temples.

"Bolorov appliances are notorious for having defects. The latest model of the oven was rumored to explode if the stove was left on while the oven was in use. Something to do with a faulty pilot ignitor and an insecure line between the gas tank and the oven. Clearly, it wasn't just a rumor."

"Well how was I supposed to know THAT?!"

"Read the Loc Lac Inquirer! And never trust a Bolorov ever again!"

"Ugh… alright, let's just get out of here before anyone actually comes back inside to see what happened. I really don't want this explosion getting pegged onto me."

"Might be a real blow to your reputation, yeah. Accidents happen all the time, after all. Buuuuut… What'll you do for me to keep me quiet about this?"

"I won't tell everyone that you were there too, and that you actually knew what these Bolorov things do!"

"I, ah… Alright, you got me there."

"Then come on already, or else we'll both get caught! I think one of the rooms down the hall has a window we could jump out of…"

"Just one quick second," Viper said, glancing into the kitchen and pushing the door open. Snow watched in confusion as he disappeared into the blackened room for a few moments before he returned carrying the tray of pastries that had been baking inside the oven. Miraculously, they actually looked perfectly fine. Completely edible, even. "Look! They survived the blast!"

"How the fu- Wait, why are you STILL thinking about food?!"

"They smelled too good to just abandon like that, Snow!" he called, racing past her with the tray as he shoved one of the pastries into his mouth. "Thanffh mffh lffer!"

"HEY! The least you can do is SHARE!" she replied, racing after the archer.

* * *

**Author Notes: Please review! Man, it's been forever since I posted one of these… I have a lot of concepts for more Supplementary chapters, but getting them all down in print takes a bit more time out of my normal writing schedule than I like sometimes. I'm going to do my best to get at least one released at some point in between the main chapters though. **

**Also, for those wondering, this chapter takes place just before the Hunter's Exam and the Deviljho attack from chapters 26-27. It's also the reason Rose couldn't make any actual meals for Wes while he was recovering in chapter 28. Turns out it was Snow's accidental doing all along!**


	9. Season of Giving

**The Master Corps: Supplementary Chapters**

_**Disclaimer: I do not own Monster Hunter. The game belongs entirely to Capcom. All characters that appear in this story belong to me, unless otherwise stated.**_

**This Chapter is Non-Canonical with TMC**

* * *

SC9: Season of Giving

"I still don't get this whole 'winter holiday tradition' thing," Snow said as she set down a number of festively-wrapped gift boxes by a tall pine adorned with ornaments and ribbons, fixing the red and white floppy hat she was wearing with a short frown. The hat matched the sleeveless red dress she wore, with a ring of white fur wrapping around her thighs where the dress cut off. A red shawl of sorts was wrapped around her shoulders and tied in the front by a thin drawstring, and like the dress also had a layer of fur wrapped around the lower end. She also had a pair of black leggings on, and detached sleeves on her forearms that matched her outfit. "I mean... what's the holiday even called again? Everyone just says 'the holidays'. Don't holidays have names? And are there actually more than one?"

She was standing in a relatively spacious room of the large cabin she, the rest of team Storm, and the Gems were staying at for a few weeks. It was apparently some kind of a 'holiday resort' Amethyst had a ton of coupons saved up for, enough that she managed to cover expenses for all eight of them to stay there. So, while the Gems mostly kept to their own devices on the other side of the second floor, Snow and the others were lounging about in their own space, brightly decorated with a tall tree, wreaths, figures and statues, and all manner of 'holiday knickknacks' as the staff called them.

"No need to question it Snow, you just have to enjoy yourself! And by enjoy yourself, I mean give me my presents," Viper smirked, setting his own collection of boxes down by the tree.

"Don't be selfish."

The archer froze in place, laughing nervously as he turned to the side. Frost was sitting on a nearby lounge chair with a mug of hot chocolate in his hand. The white-haired man was wearing a rather ugly-looking green and red patterned sweater that wasn't designed to be as form-fitting as it was- if anything, it looked like he might tear the thing clean in half if he moved too much. He also had long brown cotton pants on that, fortunately, seemed to fit him better than the top. While Snow didn't seem at all unhappy with her attire, Frost didn't appear too pleased with what he was wearing, based on the way his left eye was constantly twitching.

"Oh relax, Jack. Not like I didn't get all of you something cool too! Just trying to get into the festivities a little is all," the yellow-eyed man sighed, tugging at the sides of his brown and green zig-zag patterned shirt. "Half the fun is the 'getting'!"

"Yet they refer to it as the 'season of giving'. Your people's traditions and mannerisms make no sense."

"There's no 'giving' without 'getting'. Kinda how the whole gift exchange works. Speaking of, where the hell is Wes? We can't start opening these things until he gets here."

"The guy at the front desk said something about a delivery for him a few hours ago," Snow explained, getting up and seating herself on the armrest of the couch perpendicular to her twin. "Maybe it's a last-minute gift for one of us?"

"That's impossible, he told me he had all of his things sorted out weeks ago. I'll bet he's just trying to spend some 'quality time' with Saph again or something."

"Who's spending quality time with me?"

The three turned their heads as the blue-haired huntress stepped into the room with a few boxes of her own. One was wrapped in red, another in blue, a third in green, and the last in purple decorative paper. She yelped as the top one slid to the side, and she stumbled quickly to keep it from falling, just barely managing to save the box from falling off the top of the stack. She lowered the boxes to a nearby table and breathed a sigh of relief before turning to the others and glanced between them with a quizzical expression. She had a fluffy white and blue shawl over her shoulders that hung down her back, and beneath that a patterned white and blue shirt, along with a pair of light grey colored pants.

"So he wasn't with you either?" Frost asked before taking a long sip of his drink. "Strange."

"Guess we can wait a few more minutes before looking for him. What's all that stuff, Saph?"

"Oh, it's the gifts from me and the others! You did remember we were giving you guys stuff too, right?"

"Right. The 'gift pair' idea. Snow, didn't you drop off our things to them earlier?"

"Yeah! Or, well, all of _ours. _Wes didn't hand me his."

"He's probably keeping it a surprise."

"I hope so… Anyways, sorry I'm a little late bringing them over, Emmy didn't want to wait," Sapphire explained. "We… already opened your gifts. Frost, Ammy really liked the Barioth-print sweater. She doesn't really mind that it's about five sizes too big either."

"Clothing sizes are asinine."

"Viper, Emmy said the cookies weren't half bad, but the ones she made for you were way better."

"Oh, that smug little- I'll be the judge of that!"

"Snow, Ruby thought the, uh… 'nighttime outfit' you got her was… very nice."

"Oh good! I thought she might like something red and frilly. The guy working at the shop said it made all women look better to wear something like that!" Snow smiled cheerfully while Sapphire glanced aside with a slightly reddish tint to her cheeks and cleared her throat. Viper raised an eyebrow and glanced towards Snow, though she continued speaking. "So! What did Wes get for you? Did he get your present to you?"

"I haven't seen him all day, so… No. Any idea where he is?"

The sound of the door getting kicked in earned all of their attention, and the hunters looked wordlessly as a giant mass of gift wrapped boxes and bags stumbled through the doorway on a pair of wobbly legs.

"Someone… Help…"

"Wes? Is… is that you in there?" Viper asked after a few moments. A loud groan escaped the mass of gifts before the legs buckled, and the mountain of festively decorated packages dropped to the floor with a rather loud _thud _that shook the room. The group glanced between one another, and Frost took another long sip of cocoa, before the mound began to shift a little. A moment later, the blonde-haired hunter's head popped out the top of the mound, and he took in a deep breath as though he had just come to the surface of the ocean for a long-needed breath of air.

"Yeah, hey, thanks for giving me a hand there, guys. Really appreciate it."

"What the hell are all of those boxes?! Are those for us?"

"I said damn near the exact same thing when I saw this pile waiting for me downstairs. I _WISH _at least a portion of it was for you guys. Do you have any idea how long it took to sign for all of these things?!"

"Wait wait wait, those are… all for _you?_" Snow asked incredulously as the hunter tried to pull his way out of his prison of gifts. "There must be at least fifty in that pile alone!"

"Would you believe me if I said there were just as many waiting for me downstairs still?" Wes sighed, pulling himself free of his entrapment at last. He was wearing a blue shirt with a snowman design on the front and a pair of cream colored pants. He wiped his brow and turned back towards the pile for a moment, groaning once again. "How the hell am I going to carry all of this back to Loc Lac?!"

"Maybe you could rent an Anteka-drawn sleigh?" Viper suggested. "Or... maybe two. Three? Definitely three."

"Who are all of these things from, anyways?" the blue-haired huntress asked, taking a few steps towards Wes and glancing up at the pile of gifts.

"Let's see, off the top of my head… Kat, Serena, Megan, two from Lucy, Samantha, Holly, Holly's twin sister Kelly, Iliana, Alexis, Alex_a,_ Diane, Cynthia, Victoria, Liz-"

"Okay, I'm noticing a distinct trend here," the archer frowned, rounding the couch to inspect the pile as well. "Are all of these from women?!"

"I dunno, maybe? I lost track after number fifty."

"What the hell?! They all have cards attached to them and everything! You and your goddamn fanclub… Where's the love for ol' Viper?! At least I give all the ladies the time of day, unlike a certain someone!"

"Don't be selfish. Get in the holiday spirit."

"Shut up, Frost!"

The man simply sipped from his mug while Viper continued to fume to himself, and Wes let out a short sigh. "Well, the things I got the rest of you should be in my room. I'll go grab 'em real quick."

A few minutes later, the hunter came back into the room with a few boxes, setting most of them down by the tree, though he kept the last one with him. After agreeing they were ready to open now, the hunters all went for the boxes addressed to them. Sapphire brought the gifts from the Gems over as well, which they all started with after gathering their assorted packages.

"Oh neat, a strategy book!" Snow smiled as she opened Ruby's gift to her. "Did she write this up herself? Wow, that's really something! It'll definitely make our hunts go a lot more smoothly! Tell Ruby I said thanks a ton, Saph!"

"Yeah, and tell Greenie that the cookies I made for her are _way _better than these ones!" Viper said after swallowing a few of the sweets within his own box. "Even if these definitely aren't bad…"

"Anti-helmet hair shampoo?" Frost asked, holding up a tall white bottle in his hand.

"Ammy had a really hard time picking out a gift for you. It's a great brand though! Helps with volumizing _and _conditioning!"

"I don't know what either of those mean."

"Frost appreciates her gift," Snow assured with a light laugh.

"Holy hell Saph, did you knit this by hand?" Wes asked, pulling a blue sweater out of the box she handed him, the front of which had a cute Lagombi design sewn into it in a style similar to her drawings.

"Yeah, it took a little while, but I did my best to make sure it would fit…" she grinned sheepishly, looking aside for a moment. "Do you like it?" When she turned back, the hunter was already wearing the sweater, and was currently rolling the sleeves up.

"You bet I do! This is awesome! Now I have something to wear when it's cold that _isn't _armor!" he laughed. "And I love the design on the front! It's in my favorite color and everything. Oh right, Saph, your gift is right here," he said, picking up the blue box with gold ribbons tied into an intricate knot on the top. "I hope you like it. Took me ages to find the thing. Almost got trampled to death by some guy with a heavy accent looking for 'Turbo Man' or something."

Sapphire's face lit up as she went for the box he held out to her, and after carefully untying the ribbon she opened the box and pulled the contents out, screaming in delight at the baby Lagombi plush doll she pulled out from inside.

"You actually found it! That magazine said there were only a hundred of these things made! It's so CUTE! Thank you thank you thank you!"

"There's, ah, a couple other things in the box too, so keep looking, alright? Just… keep the sheet of paper private, okay?"

"Oh, okay, no probl- is this a handwritten poem?"

"SAPH! WHY!"

"Bud, you wrote her a goddamn poem?!" Viper laughed, spilling cookie crumbs all over the floor and his gifts. "Ain't you just a regular Casanova! C'mon Saph, read us the guy's poem!"

"Do _not _read us the guy's poem!" Wes argued, his cheeks flushing red. "It's _personal!"_

"I didn't know you could write, Wes," Snow mused as the blue- and green-eyed hunter's face reddened. "I'm kind of interested now too!"

"Not you too! Frost, help me out here! Please!"

The white-haired man glanced between all the faces in the room before taking a silent sip from his mug, blocking their view of his eyes. Wes sank into his seat with a mortified expression, though Sapphire giggled in amusement before leaning over the back of the chair and giving him a quick peck on the cheek.

"Don't worry, I won't read it out loud. It _was _very sweet though, Wes."

"Ah c'mon Saph, don't be like that! Share with us!" Viper laughed as Wes' face reddened more.

"Nah, I'd prefer to keep this to myself. Besides, you can probably imagine what it says anyways. I'm sure you get things like this all the time, right, Viper?"

"I-" the archer began, only for his voice to cut out and his expression to gradually fall from amused to darkened in a matter of seconds, and he began grumbling to himself once again. They turned towards the hall as a loud crashing noise sounded from the other end of the floor, and there was an accompanying scream of frustration.

"Saph, get back here! One of Ammy's sleeves got caught on the tree and she pulled the entire thing down on Ruby!"

"Not my fault… Hey, when did that elf get on the shelf? It's kinda creepy…"

"Ammy, pay attention! Help me get the star off of her head! SAPH!"

"I, uh, should probably go help them," the huntress laughed, backing out slowly and waving before booking it down the hall to help her teammates.

"Man Viper, she shut you down _hard." _

"Wes, just… just leave it. Enjoy your hundreds of presents and your fan club full of women. _Appreciate _how lucky you are."

"I do, all the time. I got great friends like all of you, after all! Speaking of, why don't you go ahead and open what we got for you?"

"Fine, I'll start with yours, just so you can't rub any salt in the-" The archer cut himself off as his eyes widened in shock when he opened the gift Wes got for him. "This isn't."

"It is."

"You didn't."

"I did."

"What is it, Viper?"

"It's… it's a gourmet voucher booklet for the Royal Emperor Flame tavern!" the archer exclaimed, raising the booklet into the air with both arms for all to see. "The highest rated tavern in the entire city of Loc Lac, known for having the best food in the city! Where in the HELL did you get your hands on a booklet of fifty gourmet vouchers to the most expensive place to eat in the country?!"

"I, uh… Let's not talk about that. I take it you-"

"I FUCKING LOVE YOU! I'd kiss you if you weren't on the other side of the room, you know that?!"

"…Uh..."

"A-anyways, rest of the gifts! Time for those! Snow, yours is up next!" the archer grinned nervously, pulling her gift to him up to his lap and opening it in a flash. "Oh, sweet! Candied Popo Tongues!"

"You will not believe how hard it was for me not to eat those myself," Snow laughed. "Those are my favorites, so I figured you might like them too, y'know?"

"These are a Tundra-locale specialty! I don't even get them that often, so this is great! Thanks a ton, Angel. And now for Frost's gift… Wow. That is a _lot _of bow coatings."

"Free voucher for a half-year's supply inside too. Plus a couple new bowstrings."

"Heh, noticed the old one was getting kinda worn out, huh? Thanks man, I appreciate it. So, that's enough for me; Snow, why don't you open your gifts?"

"Oh, sure thing! Let's see… Viper's first, I say!" the white-haired woman grinned, picking the ivy-green wrapped box up from the ground and pulling it open. "Oh, isn't this… Wow, this is the nightwear I almost got for Ruby! I didn't think she'd like the fluffy white bits as much, but I really liked them! It's a bit short, sure, but this is really nice fabric!"

"Yeah, I thought you could- wait, you… you got something like this for Ruby?"

"Uh-huh! That 'Whoever's Secret' store sure is expensive, right?"

Viper exchanged a slightly-mortified glance with Wes as it dawned on them what Snow had actually gotten for the red-haired woman.

"I, uh... You do know what 'nightwear' means, right? Hint hint, nudge nudge?"

"Of course. What's there to get? You wear it at night when you go to sleep. It's like... expensive PJs."

"I mean, that's not... exactly wrong, but you see-"

"So how about my gift next?" Wes said after clearing his throat and stifling a laugh, cutting the archer off in the process.

"You got it!" she replied, tearing the wrapping off of the rectangular gift. "Ooh, it's that book we were talking about!"

"Yup! That's actually my old copy of 'Driven'. I had it signed by the author and everything way back when it first came out. I've already read it plenty of times, and after you mentioned wanting to read it, I thought you could get some use out of it too."

"I'll be sure to take extra good care of it in that case! And last but not least…" The woman reached down to a smaller box on the ground beside her. Frost was eyeing her hands as she opened the box and procured a small amber figurine of a Barioth from inside, carved intricately to resemble the proud beast and polished to an illustrious sheen. "Whoa… Frost, where did you get this?"

"Carved it from a Barioth tusk by hand," he replied, finishing his drink and setting the empty mug aside. "Thought something about our roots would be meaningful."

"Heh… well, you thought right. Thank you, brother. I'll make sure to always remember. On that note… Frost, why don't you check out what I got you?"

The man raised his eyebrow slightly, but reached down for the long white box addressed to him from his twin. He carefully pried the lid off and pulled a long piece of snow-white cloth from inside.

"A scarf?"

"Sewn from fine Barioth fur! Saph gave me a hand with sewing it together, and I had Wes help out with the tougher bits. It's pretty tough, so it could even handle you wearing it in the middle of a fight. Guess we had the same ideas about our gifts' purpose, huh?"

"I… Thank you, sister. I will treasure it."

"Wait, you can sew?" Viper asked, turning towards the blonde-haired man.

"I, uh… I don't talk about it much, but yeah, I can. It helps when I need more straps on my belts, or for mending cloth. I mean, my coattails get torn a _lot _more often than you'd think, so..."

"Gods, a poet AND you can sew? Next thing you're gonna tell me is that you're secretly a bard or something!" The archer laughed, though he paused a moment as Wes grimaced slightly. "You… you _can_ sing, can't you."

"Well, I… Actually, no, I can't sing! Not in a million years! My voice sounds like rocks running through an Aptonoth's intestines. Nope, definitely cannot sing, at all. Ever. Not even if you paid me. I'm not singing! In fact, forget I even said anything!"

"See, now I just don't believe you at all. How does caroling for the rest of us sound, bud?"

"So, Frost, what did Viper get for you?" Wes asked, abruptly changing the subject as he turned back towards the white-haired man, the scarf his twin gave him wrapped around his shoulders already. He glanced to the side and picked up the archer's gift and quietly pulled it open.

"Heavy armor spheres, and a coupon for a free upgrade for one complete suit of armor."

"And there's something else," the yellow-eyed man chimed in. "Check under the middle sphere." In doing so, Frost procured a long, fluffy white object with a couple elastic bands sewn into the top. "Ta-da! It's a festive holiday beard! You can put it on your face and look like you've got a beard just like the one that old fat man in the red coat has. I, uh, honestly got that more as a joke than anything."

"…I don't understand your humor. I will give you the benefit of the doubt though." The white-haired man then went for the smaller box Wes had addressed for him, popping the cube open and procuring a rounded, flat grey stone. "A whetstone?"

"Not just any whetstone. Vulcan brand! Makers of some of the most high-end weapon care products out there. That stone's not only reusable, but it can restore sharpness to a blade four times faster than the average whetstone, AND it helps a weapon maintain its integrity for a longer time without needing to revisit the smithy. Plus, the reverse side can be used for polishing."

"Very interesting… I believe I will be using this for a long while."

"So, that leaves just you, Wes," Snow smiled as Frost began to fiddle around with the faux facial hair Viper had given him. "How about opening our gifts before getting to work on that giant pile back there?"

"Sounds like a plan to me," the hunter stated excitedly, grabbing the first box. "Alright Frost, let's take a looksie… Wow, aren't these Nether Twinblades?"

"Crafted from Abyssal Lagiacrus parts. Fine blades. You'll get a lot of use out of them."

"You've got that right… Man, there's enough thunder element in these babies to make the hair on my neck stand straight up," Wes grinned, lifting one of the glowing blue blades from the large box and inspecting the edge. "Can't wait to test them out! Thanks!"

Frost nodded affirmatively and returned his attention to the fake beard while Wes set the swords aside and picked up the box Snow had addressed to him, peeling the paper off and flipping the lid open.

"Barioth dual blades? I was wondering why the box felt so cold!"

"Frost and I had some extra parts from our armor lying around, so I used them to make a fresh pair of swords for you! I know how much you love you weapon collection, so I thought something as 'cool' as these would be a nice addition!"

"They really are, Snow! I'll take 'em out for a run sometime too. Think I could freeze the ground with 'em like you can with your sword?"

"Hmm… Maybe? Definitely can flash-freeze water with the spike blade. Ooh, maybe I could write that into the tactics book Ruby got me!"

"That's a strategy I'd be more than happy to try out. And of course, Viper..."

"I think you'll love what I got for ya, bud."

"More than you love the gourmet vouchers?"

"Er… maybe."

Wes chuckled and pried the lid of the third box of, amusedly pulling another sword from within.

"Nargacuga swords?"

"Not just any Nargacuga swords, mind you! These are Lucent Nargacuga swords! Specifically, Eclipse Slicers. Super poisonous, and sharper than sharp! These things could slice a Duramboros' tail off with one slash if you hit it right."

"I'll have to try that out next time we go to fight one of those brutes then! Thanks man, I really appreciate it… but now that I think about it, all of you got me swords."

"Well, yeah, we know how much you love your weapons, after all," Snow smiled, and the others nodded in agreement. "Do you… not like them?"

"No no, I love them! Seriously, these are great! I just… well, I'm a little concerned is all. If all of you got me swords since it was obvious how much I liked collecting them, then… how many of the gifts in that pile are… also pairs of swords?"

The group turned their heads towards the pile of gifts Wes had brought in earlier; plenty of the boxes were the exact shape and size of the ones he had already opened. Not all of them, thankfully, but at least more than a third. Unfortunately, some of the boxes were also _bigger _than those.

"So, uh… anyone mind giving me a hand opening some of these?"

"Fine, but just in case I find any sweets, I call dibs."

"Don't be selfish."

"What, you think he'll be able to eat all that candy on his own?!"

"I don't think Wes is the one who wouldeat all the sweets, Viper. You're the one who already ate all the cookies Emerald gave you."

"Untrue! There is one… half of a cookie in that box. I mean, if you… add up all the crumbs."

"Viper, I'll split the sweets with you, no worries. It's the season of giving, after all. Plus it'll give me less to carry later on. I think I might need to rent a storage unit for all these swords…"

"Don't forget the ones downstairs, bud."

"I wish I could."

* * *

**Author Notes: Happy Holidays, my faithful readers! Been a while since I wrote one of these specials, but I felt this could be a fun little short for your enjoyment. Fun fact though: despite the chapters non-canonical nature, one of the characters will get to keep one of their gifts in the main storyline. I'm interested in seeing if any of you can guess who gets to keep what!**

**I like teasing with the idea that non-canonical chapters take place in an alternate universe where things happen differently from the main story, and the characters are slightly different as well. Wes is better with women than in the original story, for instance, while Frost doesn't necessarily feel the need to remain silent or cover his face all the time. Of course, it's nothing usually too big, or its things that'll eventually happen in the main story at some point anyways, so hey, it all works out.**

**And speaking of the main story, I actually have a LOT of it done currently. Like, up to chapter 40 is already drafted and ready for editing. I may end up posting them more rapidly in the future with fewer edits to try and finish out the story, but we'll see how it all works out. Also… from chapter 34 on, things in the main story will get VERY dark, very quickly, so apologies if this seems like a bit of a mood whiplash by comparison. You have been warned.**

**But on that note, happy holidays, everybody! Until next time!**


	10. The Village of the Springs

**The Master Corps: Supplementary Chapters**

_**Disclaimer: I do not own Monster Hunter. The game belongs entirely to Capcom. All characters that appear in this story belong to me, unless otherwise stated.**_

**This Chapter is Canonical with TMC**

**Edited by: dashboardgecko**

* * *

SC10: Village of the Springs

"So this is Yukumo Village?" Viper said, gazing around at the town he and the others had just arrived in. The cart they had been riding in for the last few hours clattered away down the road behind them, leaving the four at the base of the village.

The settlement was built into the side of a large hill that was divided into several layers that could be reached through the stairs that lay between the buildings. Many of the buildings appeared very different from the structures from Loc Lac or Moga. They were quite colorful, for one, and most of them had roofs made of straw or some kind of paneling. At the peak of the village, a tall structure with the emblem of the Hunter's Guild stood overlooking the tiered sections below. The area surrounding the village was like that of the Misty Peaks hunting ground, with tall stone spires and mountains, the peaks of which were covered in clouds and wispy fog. Inside the village, though, the vegetation wasn't entirely green: some trees took on a red or orange shade due to the fall season. And, of course, it was hard not to notice the steam rising out of many of the buildings.

"I've never actually been here before," Wes mused, glancing about as well while pulling on the collar of the shirt beneath his breastplate. "It's pretty nice here… But I think I prefer Moga. Maybe it's because of all the hot springs, but this place is sweltering. Especially for autumn time…"

"You're telling me," Snow huffed, fanning herself with her right hand. Beside her, Frost stood with his arms crossed. While he seemed to be handling the warmth of the village better than his sister, based on the long breaths Wes could hear him taking from below his helmet, the heat bothered him just as much, if not more. "Remind me again why we thought coming here for our leave was a good idea?"

"Because we've all been to Moga, we pretty much live in Loc Lac, every place you suggested was in the middle of the coldest parts of the country, and nowhere else in the country has tourism quite like here!" the archer grinned. "I mean, we could have gone to Tanzia, but that place isn't much for tourism anymore. The place is basically a Guild garrison. Maybe a trading post, but that's about it. They do have a fantastic grill though…"

"Not to mention it's even hotter there than it is here… I still think Moga would have been more agreeable to all of us. I could have given you all a tour of the place!"

"Well, we aren't in Moga, so quit complaining. Balestra only gave us a week off, and I don't want to spend it hearing all of you griping about it. Besides, just think," Viper continued, wrapping an arm around Wes' shoulders and pointing an arm around the village, "this place has a pretty unique forging method too! I don't know much about it aside from the regular rumors and hearsay, but apparently they use a real special kind of wood for weapons crafting in these parts, and some kinda… folding process for metal or something. Yukumo weapons are famous!"

"…Go on."

"Heh, I knew that might get your attention, bud. But seriously, let's not knock the place before we've even been here for a day, right?"

"I guess you have a point," Snow sighed. "But can we _please_ get to the lodgings and change out of our armor? I get that we had to wear it in case something happened on the road, but I'm dying of heat stroke here."

"Oh alright, let's find out where we'll be staying."

* * *

The hunters took the rest of that day to settle in to the Guild lodging, though Wes was tired enough from all the traveling and the jobs before that he didn't even attempt to explore the town. He was glad to learn the others had done the same; it gave them all a chance to look around together the day after, more or less. They stopped for food at the open-air kitchen in town, though Frost took his meal back to the lodging to eat. He was the only one of them to still be wearing his armor. Wes and Snow were garbed in their underclothing to try and keep from overheating, while Viper seemed completely content wearing a vest and cut-off pants.

"Think I might try out that hot spring now," Viper grunted as he stretched his arms and let out a long satisfied sigh. "The food here is definitely top notch stuff, but I've gotta try a little bit of everything! Say Snow, care to join me? I hear the springs are all unisex." The archer practically sang that last word, eliciting a roll of the eyes from Wes.

"Ugh… No thanks. It's hot enough around here already. Last thing I need is to take a dip into the source."

"Ah c'mon, think about your poor muscles! Your aching back! Your tender calves! Think of how relieving that spring water will be!"

"Viper, give it a rest," Wes chuckled, patting his shoulder lightly. "If she doesn't want to get in the hot spring, she's not getting in the hot spring. No amount of theatrical wooing is gonna change that."

"Hmph. Fine, guess we'll just have to have a good time without her. Right, Wes?"

"Uhhh… I was actually going to head over to the smithy before anything…"

"Oh come ON! Can't you cool the weapon fetish for one day? Think of the babes in that spring, Wes! I need you to play wingman for me! The chicks love that pretty face of yours! It's the perfect bait!"

"_THAT'S _what this is about?" Snow asked, raising an eyebrow towards the archer. Viper chuckled nervously under her gaze as he pushed himself up to leave, his expression pretty much telling them that he'd run out of cards to try and play. "Just don't do anything that'll get you kicked out of there, alright?"

"Yeah, yeah… Thanks, _Mom._ Last one in there is definitely a rotten egg!" Viper called as he raced back towards the lodging. Wes and Snow glanced towards each other and broke out into laughter a moment later.

"Well, I think I'm gonna draw a nice, cool bath for myself," Snow said as they settled down. "I really don't mean to complain, but this heat is literally killing me. Next vacation, let's go somewhere cold. Deal?"

"Deal. It's bad enough for me, and you have your… circumstances, so it's gotta be worse. Just relax a bit, alright? You've earned it, fearless leader," the hunter chuckled.

"You bet! And by the by, if your room feels a little too warm, maybe someone can work a little magic somehow," she winked.

The hunters bumped fists before Snow went off towards the lodge as well, and Wes turned towards the center of town. Yukumo was still quite busy- Viper hadn't been kidding about the tourism, but there were plenty of locals too it seemed. Thankfully, navigating the crowds wasn't nearly as tough as it tended to be back in Loc Lac, and there were signs pointing him in the direction he wanted to go. Soon enough, he happened upon the armory and smithy, the latter of which was run by an old Wyverian with a wide smile.

"Hey hey, Hunter!" the smith greeted with a light wave as Wes drew near. "Yer a new face around here. Lookin' fer a weapon? Maybe some armor?"

"Nah, I'm pretty well set in both departments for the time being. I heard there were some unique methods of forging here in Yukumo though. I was wondering if you could share?"

"Hrm… that's a bit of a village secret, Skippy. The Chief wants us to keep a tight lip about that sort of thing." Wes' expression fell slightly at those words: he'd actually been looking forward to learning just what set Yukumian weapons apart from the rest. The Smith seemed to take note of his face, though, and the Wyverian chuckled. "Now now, there IS an exception to that. Those given permission by the Chief herself can legally gather the materials needed from the Misty Peaks and be trusted with the secret woodworking process. Maybe if ya talked with her about it, she'd be willin' to let you have a chance to learn too. Plenty of hunters come through here asking, and while not many leave with that information, the Chief isn't one to turn people away from trying."

"You don't say? And she's just… available to talk to? No ceremony or request forms?"

"I haven't heard of any Elders or Chiefs that make a big deal out of a little chat. Ours ain't any different. Just mind her way of speakin'. Might sound a little, er, self-centered, but it's just her thing."

"Alright, I'll keep an eye out for her. Thanks!"

"Don't mention it, Hunter! Come back anytime, and take care of yourself," the old smith smiled, waving and walking back into his place of work as the hunter strode off in search of the Chief.

While the village wasn't nearly as large or complex as Moga, Wes found it far more difficult to track the Chief down than he'd been expecting. He'd ask a townsperson or store owner where she might be, and they'd point him in one direction or another, saying the Chief usually went to location X or Y at this or that time, and if he hurried he might catch her. He tried getting Silver to help out too, but it seemed the entity was taking his own 'vacation', and he was more serious about it than Viper had been- Silver wasn't willing to cut his siesta short to do any work at all (whatever a siesta was).

By the time Wes actually did manage to locate her, he was pretty much covered in sweat, a combination of the heat and running around the town for so long. He breathed a short sigh before making his way over to the carpet-covered stone bench the Chief was sitting upon. He was surprised to learn that the Chief herself was a Wyverian as well, albeit a much younger-looking one (though it was often rather hard to tell considering their long lifespans). She had relatively pale skin and deep ebony colored hair, and her pointed ears seemed like they were being pulled downwards by the large earrings she wore. She wore an outfit of many shades of lavender, and a yellow cloth wrapping of sorts covered her shoulders. She wore a rather… 'interesting' hat, or headdress he supposed, that matched her outfit. She barely even glanced up as he approached, however; her gaze was fixated upon the falling red leaves around her.

"Uh, excuse me… Are you the Chief?" he asked, mentally berating himself for asking such an obvious question. The Wyverian's gaze shifted towards him for a moment as a leaf fell into her open palm.

"Ho ho ho ho… A reflection of crimson in gleaming eyes of blue and green, like the setting sun over a clear, pristine landscape. You will feel welcome in my village, young one," the Wyverian said with a smooth, light voice. She chuckled lightly as a confused look crossed Wes' face, though he quickly shook it away. "You will call me Chief Maijah."

"I, uh… Thanks?" he said awkwardly, clearing his throat after a moment. "Chief Maijah, I have a request. I'm a hunter, see, and I'm really interested in the forging methods here in Yukumo-"

"Such secrets do not come simply, young one. My people's art of smithing and carpentry is a time-honored tradition, kept close in the hearts of all Yukumians with the knowledge. Few hunters, only those who have proven themselves, are worthy of my blessing them with this knowledge. You will do the same if you wish to learn."

"Well, I'm not here for very long, but… how can I 'prove' myself? Is it like a ranking thing? A… hunt? Please tell me it's not a hunt… I'm here to rest, not kill more monsters."

"Ho ho... If it were a hunt I asked of you, I believe you would still do so."

"Not to be disrespectful, but... I didn't come to Yukumo to fight anything. I'll be honest, after all the hunting I've had to do for the Corps lately, I'd rather not even try if that's the conditions. I'd love to learn about the process, but not if it means a hunt."

"Mmm… How interesting, young one. Many hunters would seek new quarry while they have any time at all. Yet, here is one that wishes for a chance _not_ to fight. Like a ship heading in opposition to the wind. I wonder…"

Maijah paused for a few moments bringing the leaf she had caught closer to her face before allowing it to flutter down into the pool of water behind her. The Wyverian then turned to face Wes once more. "I believe I have just the test in mind for you. In two days' time, you will meet me in front of the bridge there before the rise of the sun," she said, gesturing towards the red wood structure off to her left. "Prepare your weapons and armor- not for combat, but for your protection- and we shall see if you prove yourself worthy of a Yukumian tradition."

* * *

_This seems a little excessive for some weapon crafting information, _Wes grumbled internally as he made his way up the path, clambering over a small ledge as he continued his ascent.

_No one made you get up at four in the morning to go mountain climbing, y'know. That's all on you, partner._

_Did I ask for your input? Go back to your siesta, or whatever the hell you call it. I'm just thinking to myself._

_I am you, though. I feel like we've beaten this horse to hell and back by this point._

_Silver. Siesta. Now._

The hunter let out a low sigh before resting a hand on his hip and looking up the peak he was climbing. It was still very early in the morning, and the only real light he had to go by were the few rays of sunlight shining over the horizon, but it was enough to see where he was going at least. Chief Maijah had only given him a vague idea of what this 'test' was supposed to entail. Supposedly there was a shrine or something at the peak of this mountain, and he was supposed to retrieve a relic from it. He figured that wasn't so bad until he actually reached the base of the mountain: it was NOT an easy climb, which for him was really saying something. He was glad he hadn't run into any monsters or had to fight at all, as it was taking most of his energy just to clamber his way up the peak.

Still, he pressed ahead after catching his breath, gripping a handhold as he began to hoist himself up once more. The 'path' wasn't much of a hiking trail at all. The few parts he had come across that he could walk up were all quite narrow and steep, and the higher up he got the foggier and windier it grew, which he supposed wasn't entirely unexpected for the Misty Peaks region, but it did serve to make him question why he thought agreeing to climb a mountain when he was supposed to be taking the week off was a good idea. He knew he probably wouldn't hear the end of it if Sapphire were around... He'd have to remember to grab her a souvenir from town.

He was at least making steady progress, though. Despite the treacherous climb, he made it up to a small cavern that looked like it was a base camp of sorts just before sunrise. A single stream ran through the area, splitting in half at one point before feeding back into a sizeable crack in the floor, and various stalagmites and stalactites rose from the floor and hung from the ceiling. The howl of wind echoing from the entrances filled the cave with a steady drone of noise. Glancing around the makeshift camp, he didn't see any signs that anyone had been here lately; even the few remaining Guild-standard supplies in the blue item box were covered in dust.

"An abandoned base camp at the top of a mountain?" he muttered, closing the lid of the box and turning his gaze towards the tent. "This is starting to feel a little ominous…"

He turned around fully after a few seconds, his vision landing on an exit to the cavern, and a grassy path that looked far less steep than the rest of the mount had been. Outside was even foggier than it had been during the climb up, enough so that he could only really see the ground. As long as he was already here, he figured turning back now would just make it all a waste of time, so Wes made his way towards the opening. He carefully strode up the path for several minutes, noting that it gradually curved around the peak. Eventually, he made his way high enough that he breached the cloud layer, and he could see over the puffy mist and see many other peaks jutting through the layer around him. The sky was a very clear light blue, and the sun was just barely visible by then, casting its rays onto the green mountain peak.

"Talk about a view," Wes whistled, nodding lightly as he glanced from peak to peak for a few moments, the breeze that swept up the side of the mountain shifting his hair and coattails about. He felt he might even be able to see the entirety of the hunting grounds from up here if the clouds weren't in the way. Hopefully the wind would cause them to part before he made his way back down.

After admiring the sights for a little while longer, the hunter continued up the grassy path until it turned sharply to the right, and he came to a tall staircase that led up to the peak. He didn't see any décor or ornamentation that seemed to suggest a temple was nearby, and he certainly didn't see a shrine from there, but the dual blade wielder still made his way up the staircase, noting that it was in surprisingly good condition for a location that must have been so affected by the weather year-round. Making his way over the last few steps, Wes breathed a short sigh of relief as he realized he was well and truly at the top of the mountain now. No more climbing up, at least. The peak was relatively barren, though: aside from the swaying grass and the odd tree here and there, and a few tall protrusions of stone, there wasn't really anything there. No structures or shrines or anything. The hunter frowned as he stepped forwards and scanned across the peak for anything he might be missing, but to no avail.

"Silver, this _is _the right mountain… right?"

_This is the one the Chief pointed us towards, yeah. Maybe the shrine was that base camp? Why not just take a first-aid med or something and bring that back down?_

"Well… let's look around a little first. There's gotta be something important around here. She seemed to imply as much. We don't find anything, then sure, we'll take something from the camp and call it a day."

_Coolio. Anyways, back to my siesta._

Despite his searching, though, Wes didn't end up finding much of anything. The only real excitement was a small, dilapidated wood structure behind one of the ledges, but it looked more like a crashed airship than anything. It was quite old, too: most of the planks had rotted away, leaving the vehicle pretty much unrecognizable. He was at least relieved not to find any remains inside, human or otherwise.

He was about to give up and begin his trek back down the mountain when the breeze that had constantly been blowing across the peak suddenly vanished, stopping him in his tracks. He reached an arm up towards the handles of his Zinogre dual weapons and looked around the peak warily; he hadn't felt anything remotely threatening since breaching the clouds, but the way the wind just... _vanished_ unsettled him. Soon enough, another breeze swept across the peak, though this one felt far less natural to him. One blew in the opposite direction of the first, causing the grass to flcik from left to right, and the hunter turned quickly when he thought he heard something behind him. For a few moments, there was nothing, but before he looked away, a large shape shot up from the side of the mountain, twisting about in midair the same way a leviathan would underwater.

His eyes widened when they registered what the creature was, though. Despite having a similar body shape, it was not a leviathan: the beast's body was a pale white color, its underbelly covered in grey scales and plates while innumerable wavy fins stretched along its back and limbs. The forelimbs seemed much more developed than the hind, yet neither seemed like they were meant to even touch the ground. The draconic head was rather small in relation to the body, though it was adorned with a pair of long white tendril-like whiskers, and a pair of massive golden horns that resembled blades or fans. It was a monster Wes had never seen in his life, but with all the legends he had read surrounding this creature, there was no way he wouldn't have been able to recognize it.

"Amatsumagatsuchi," he said in awe of the beast levitating before him. "Amatsu… The great Storm Dragon."

The elder dragon silently looked down on the hunter as winds swept to and fro around its body and the rest of the peak, its two beady golden-yellow eyes staring into his as though it were examining his very soul. The hunter lowered his hand and continued to watch the Storm Dragon as well. The stories often said this dragon was largely passive so long as it wasn't threatened or its airspace wasn't invaded, and from what Wes could tell, that seemed to be the case. The creature didn't move to attack at all. It didn't even so much as growl at him.

He flinched and raised his arm to shield his face as one particularly fierce wind blew across the mountain top without warning, not nearly strong enough to knock him down or do much more than make his faulds flap in the breeze, but enough to feel like a challenge from the beast. Wes lowered his arm as the gale died down, though, and he continued to exchange a stare with the dragon for several more minutes. He didn't think he'd ever seen a more majestic creature before, nor one that was this powerful. Its appearance had stunned him beyond words, and this power it wielded was something else entirely.

After a few minutes of silent breezes and unbreaking stares, the Storm Dragon let out a low hum and drifted over to his left, stopping above the middle of the mountain's peak and twisting about in the air. Wes continued to watch as the Amatsu then began to spin in the air, slowly at first, but gradually gaining speed up until it was a veritable tornado of movement. The act culminated in the dragon uncoiling itself and raising its head to the skies, letting out a long roar as its chest momentarily glowed a light golden color, and a fierce burst of wind shot out in every direction. Though he had to cover his ears and shield himself from the gale, Wes continued to watch as the dragon lowered itself closer to the ground, and a small shiny object dropped to the grass beneath it. The dragon hummed once more before it lifted off from the peak and 'swam' towards the edge of the mountain, launching itself off into the cloud layer and disappearing from sight.

Wes watched after the spot the elder dragon had disappeared into for several more minutes, barely even able to comprehend what had just happened. The gleaming object in the grass ahead of him eventually gained his attention though, and the dual blade wielder strode over to it. A smooth, jade-colored gemstone with a golden-amber middle was resting in the greens, which the hunter slowly reached down and picked up to inspect more closely. He couldn't help but feel that this was more than relic enough for the Yukumo Chief's trial. He pocketed the stone and took a few more moments to let the bewilderment he was feeling subside before beginning his trek back down the mountain.

* * *

"So you have returned, young one," Maijah greeted as Wes stepped off of the bridge back into the village. She was seated on the stone bench she had been a few days before, and the hunter quickly made his way towards her. "You will show me the object you collected from the Sacred Pinnacle."

Wes fished the gemstone from his pouch and handed it over to the chief wordlessly, and she took it from his grasp with an amused expression, carefully inspecting its surface.

"Ho ho ho ho… My hunch was indeed correct. It would seem you were able to meet the Storm Dragon after all."

"You knew Amatsu would be there?" Wes asked with a raised eyebrow.

"Of course. The dragon is known to visit the Sacred Pinnacle, the peak of the Sacred Mount, around the same time every year," Maijah explained, setting the gemstone beside her. "You will forgive me for withholding that information from you, but I do see you are unharmed. Many a hunter would have fled immediately, or tried instead to slay the beast the moment it showed itself. Such occurrences are more common than you would believe- you are the first non-native hunter to successfully return to me from the Sacred Pinnacle in ten years, young one."

"But… why send me to do something like that then?"

"Amatsumagatsuchi is revered by my people, you see. It has been a belief amongst the Yukumian people that the great Storm Dragon protects us from calamity if we show proper respect, and bequeaths its blessing upon the village in the shape of a Heavenly Dragongem, the very same stone you returned with. You will know that only those with pure hearts find themselves worthy of the great Amatsu's attention. I have long sought a hunter that might share those traits with the one we ordinarily send to retrieve the stone when all others fail. When I first met you, I sensed there was a connection between you and Amatsu- it would seem it felt the same."

"What do you mean by a 'connection'?"

"Ho ho, it is simply a musing of mine," the Chief chuckled, covering her mouth from view with the back of her hand. "What matters is Amatsumagatsuchi acknowledged you, young one. The village, nay, the land of Venatoria itself may very well be protected from calamity now. While it may not be more than simple hearsay, you will find that some legends are true- they only require you to believe."

"Legends… I think I just met one," Wes replied, turning back towards the tall peak in the distance. After a few wistful moments, though, he turned back towards Maijah. "So, uh, about those smithing secrets…"

"I believe I can trust you with the details. However," the chief continued, opening one of her eyes and giving him a positively razor sharp look, "you will understand that I will know if you divulge these secrets to any others, young Wesley Adler."

The hunter swallowed nervously and nodded after a moment. For whatever reason he felt like that was the biggest threat he had ever received. Come to think of it… He hadn't actually told her his name before, had he? How did she know that?

"Ho ho ho ho, worry not, you are a trustworthy soul. The great Amatsu believed so, and so shall I. The secret lies within the properties of the wood grown within these parts…"

* * *

"Ahh, these springs seriously hit the spot, don't they?" Viper grinned, seating himself in the warm water beside Wes. The water was about chest-deep when sitting, and the four hunters were all relaxing in the hot spring, Frost and Snow included. Wes wasn't entirely sure how Viper had convinced the two of them to join, but Snow actually seemed to be enjoying the spring despite the heat. As for Frost…

"Did he seriously have to wear his helmet here?" the archer grumbled after a moment. The sight was almost humorous, really, but Frost still kept his helm on in the spring. He sat silently against one of the stones encircling the water with his arms crossed, revealing his rippling physique and numerous scars, yet no one could put a face to the body. "I mean, I'd get it if he was just shy, but come _on…"_

"So, Wes, did you find out how they make the weapons around here?" Snow asked after splashing her face with some water and shaking the droplets from her white hair. "I didn't see you at all earlier."

"Hmm? Oh, yeah, the chief shared it with me," he answered after a moment, pulling himself away from his thoughts about the elder dragon Amatsu. "She, uh… said it was confidential though. Like, _really _confidential. I'm not supposed to share it with anyone. Ever. Not even with my unborn children."

"Huh, that's too bad," Viper shrugged. "I'll be honest, I was kinda hoping to find out myself! Maybe I'll get my own chance some other time. But you didn't answer my question from earlier, bud: are these springs great, or what?"

"Okay, yeah, you're right. The springs alone probably could have made the entire trip worth it," Wes said with a short laugh. He wasn't lying- every ache in his body seemed to melt away in the water, and he felt his fatigue vanishing as he spoke. Based on Viper and Snow's expressions, they were likely feeling about the same.

"I'm still not a fan of this heat, but it _does _feel nice," Snow agreed, wiping her brow and reaching down to fix the towel wrapped around herself for the sake of modesty. "I just wish these towels weren't so small. Keeping it tied is a huge pain… This is why I prefer private baths like the one in my room. No hassle about public nudity there..."

"The towels are all normal-sized, Angel. Maybe it's that you're a little huge in certain areas," Viper winked, though his face paled when Frost's helmed face turned towards him, leaving the archer to laugh nervously. "Which is to say, uh, I meant…" He cleared his throat and turned around swiftly, bringing a hand to the side of his mouth. "Drinks please!"

"They do have non-alcoholic options, right?" Wes asked as Snow rolled her eyes with a light giggle. "I'd prefer it if we didn't get a repeat of the last time you made me drink."

_Aww…_

_Shut it, Silver. Gods know what you'd try to pull in a hot spring like this._

_But how am I supposed to check things off my bucket list?! I need motor functions for this, man!_

"Yeah yeah, don't worry, I checked a couple days ago. There shouldn't be any problems."

"Good. Last thing we need is to chase him around the village while we only have on these _stupid towels!" _the woman hissed, once more working to fix the knot holding the cloth wrapping on.

"I mean, if you don't like 'em, you don't have to wear- aaaaand Frost is looking at me, shutting up now."

Wes chuckled lightly and leaned back against the rock behind him, shutting his eyes as he half-listened to the conversation between his friends. What had occurred on the Sacred Pinnacle still kept the majority of his attention, far overshadowing the secrets he'd learned about Yukumo wood craft. He still didn't quite understand _everything _that had happened up there, if there even _was _a reason for it to have happened at all, but it was still nothing short of incredible. He was just waiting for a good moment to tell the others about it.

The light pattering of feet and the shifting of drink bottles on a tray beside the hunter caused him to shift his attention back to reality, and Wes opened one of his eyes. He gawked in horror as his gaze landed upon a small Felyne wearing an outfit similar to the village Guild Gals, balancing a tray with their drinks on its head. The cat-like creature glanced down at him with a quizzical look, and for a brief moment their eyes met.

"…Is something the meowter?"

"N-no, not you, it's-!"

The hunter sneezed hard before he could finish his sentence, and the Felyne yowled in surprise, staggering to the side in an effort to dodge the sneeze, only to lose its balance with the tray on its head, and with a long, drawn out 'nya' the cat-creature tumbled into the spring. A sizeable splash followed, dousing all those present quite thoroughly. The Felyne surfaced a moment later, taking a deep breath and shaking the spring water from its fur, and Wes covered his mouth and nose as he sneezed again, his eyes starting to redden and water.

"What is wrong with you, nya?!"

"Ah… Allergies," he huffed in between sneezes and wiping his eyes. "Felyne fur… _Achoo! _Sorry, I gotta get out of here!" The hunter bolted upright before sneezing once more and hopping out of the pool, racing off towards the lodging before his condition worsened.

"Wait, Wes! Do you need help with- agh, these goddamn _towels! _Stay _on!"_

"Niiiiiice! I-I mean, uh, I'm not looking!"

* * *

**Author Notes: Please review! ****So this is the first real 'short' story I decided to do that's still a side chapter for TMC. While supplementary chapters tend to be less than half as long as this one and generally only focus on humor, this one had an actual mini plotline it followed.**

**I realize many of you are probably wondering why I decided to use Amatsu's full Japanese name in this chapter. Mostly, it was because I felt that 'Amatsu' was better as a short hand referral, and as such it didn't really do the monster justice. SO, in my stories at least, it is indeed known as 'Amatsumagatsuchi'. Man, that is a mouthful.**

**Fun fact, Amatsu actually IS considered to be a relatively passive creature. This is one of many details I'm looking into for future story writing. Not all creatures are in 'kill on sight' mode like they are in game. For instance, Chameleos is another elder dragon that doesn't usually target humans, and Mizutsune usually are pretty friendly so long as you don't bug them too much or interrupt them while they're napping. Elder dragons in general are said to possess higher sentience than normal creatures as well, which is a contributing factor to the events of this chapter. For the sake of the main story, this doesn't come up as much, but it likely will in later stories and plots when I take this into account more often. **

**The village of Yukumo is decidedly bigger in-story than it appears in game, obviously enough, though it isn't nearly the size of my universe's version of Moga. It uses more traits from Portable 3****rd**** as well, including actual hotsprings instead of the footbath from Generations, the Cattendent serving drinks to act as health/stamina boosters, and the like. I'm not sure if I'm placing the events of Portable 3****rd**** in my story timeline the way I did Tri's, though: canonically, the Ceadeus in Tri was only driven off by the player character, which is what happened in my story, with the side character Kyrie (Zephyr's wife) taking the role of the Tri PC. In Portable 3****rd****, the Amatsu is actually killed, and while there are more than one in my story, the one from this chapter specifically has been around for quite some time. The actual events of Portable Third took place a long, long time before the events of the story, such that the Amatsu fight has been lost to time****.**

**One other fun fact: this chapter was birthed from another idea I had for a non-canon short involving the TMC cast traveling to Newake and meeting the Frontier Lineage group, appropriately titled 'Hotspring Bonding'. I decided after including Damien in the main story of TMC (and establishing that F-L takes place about fifteen years after TMC) that it would be kinda weird though, so I scrapped it and reworked the scenes I had written into this chapter. Wes was supposed to be very awkward with Kari and Luna (didn't really need to keep that, so it was scrapped), Frost kept his helmet on while in the spring, Snow struggles to manage her towel (this is more of a reference to Kari than anything, but while Kari's gag was due to negligence, Snow is just very busty), and Viper hits on all the girls as usual, only to constantly get shut down by someone else.**

**And, of course, I finally got to work Wes' Felyne allergies into writing. He was originally going to have a reaction to Natch, hence why Damien ended up kicking him out for a few nights, but I was kinda worried I wouldn't be able to fit that in if I didn't stick with the Newake story. Fortunately, Yukumo has an abundance of Felyne housekeepers, meaning Wes' stay will be a bit sneezier than he'd normally like.**

**Lastly, for those wondering, Wes and Snow both wear clothing variant 4 in this chapter, while Viper has variant 7. Wes' outfit is blue, Snow's is white, and Viper's is green. If Frost had been depicted in that same attire, he would have had a black version of variant 1.**


End file.
